Ruthless Barça extend Liga lead

Ruthless Barça extend Liga lead

FC Barcelona capitalised on Real Madrid CF's 3-1 loss at city rivals Getafe CF earlier on Saturday to move six points clear of Los Merengues at the Spanish Liga summit after a 3-0 win at Sevilla FC.

Nightmare start

Trailing Barça by three points at the start of play, Madrid could have put the pressure on Josep Guardiola's team ahead of their match in Andalusia only to get off to the worst of starts at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. There was only three minutes gone when Jaime Gavilán skipped past Sergio Ramos on the left and crossed for Juan Albín to head past Iker Casillas, and their evening worsened 13 minutes later when Wesley Sneijder left the field on a stretcher. Having conceded early on in the first half, Madrid did the same two minutes after the break as Albín scored his and Getafe's second, although Javier Saviola (55) soon halved the deficit with a cute finish.

On-form Eto'o

The goal revived Madrid, but it was the hosts who struck next as Ikechukwu Uche swept a square pass from Albín beyond Casillas to give Getafe their first three-goal haul of the season. Barcelona took full advantage in the late game at Sevilla, taking the lead in the 20th minute when Samuel Eto'o struck his 14th league goal of the campaign after a fortunate deflection into his path.

Messi double

Under pressure from Victor Valdés, Frédéric Kanouté then struck the crossbar with a shot from close range, a miss which was to prove crucial as Lionel Messi added a second 12 minutes from time when he latched on to a defensive header forward and finished past Andrés Palop. Luis Fabiano was then dismissed for tangling with Sergio Busquets before Messi completed a miserable night for Sevilla in added time when he finished from a tight angle after rounding Palop.
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