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Lionel Andres Messi celebrates after scoring against Recreativo Huelva during their Spanish league match at the Nuevo Colombino's Stadium in Huelva last night. pic/AFP |
A cunning training ground free-kick provided the breakthrough with Argentine Messi peeling off the wall to fire a fierce shot home on 51 minutes before Keita scored minutes after coming on.
It was a ninth successive league win for Barca who had a great weekend with all their title rivals dropping points.
On top
"It is not as if we are the champions," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola. "We are just top at the moment and of course we want to stay there.
"We have a tough game against Getafe next weekend and we want to win that match too. Recreativo were an awkward opponent and we had to be patient but a game lasts 90 minutes so it is fine."
Samuel Eto'o had bagged four goals in his last match but endured a frustrating first half with a vital late block and a brilliant save from Recre goalkeeper Asier Riesgo denying him his 14th goal of the campaign. "Riesgo" means "risk" but Asier Riesgo was anything but with some fine stops to thwart Eto'o and Thierry Henry who missed a sitter.
A great 51st minute set-piece from the training ground opened the hosts up with Xavi Hernandez lining up a shot before passing to Messi, who had spun off the wall, and the Argentine hammered a shot into the roof of the net.
Other Spanish League results
Almeria 2 Mallorca 1
Atletico Madrid 4 Deportivo 1
Espanyol 3 Numancia 4
Getafe 0 Sevilla 2
Malaga 2 Villarreal 2
Real Betis 3 Racing Santander 1
Athletic Bilbao 2 Osasuna 0
