Villarreal 0-2 Barcelona: Suarez and Messi keep five-point lead intact
Suarez and Messi scored after Raba had seen red
Alcacer produced an impressive cameo off the bench
Barcelona kept their nerve to see of 10 man Villarreal on Sunday, with Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi on target.
Villarreal CF
0 ________________ 2
FC Barcelona
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Villarreal
Sergio Asenjo; Mario, Álvaro, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Manu Trigueros, Semedo (Samu Castillejo, 49'), Rodri, Soriano (Rukavina, 63'); Raba y Bakambu.
Barça
Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Vermaelen,Jordi Alba; Busquets (André Gomes, 85'), Rakitic, Denis Suárez (Alcácer, 57'), Paulinho (Aleix Vidal, 68'); Messi y Luis Suárez.
Goles
0-1 M.71 Luis Suárez. 0-2 M.82 Messi
Árbitro
De Burgos Bengoetxea (Vasco). TA: Busquets (44'), Bakambu (60'), Álvaro (86'). TR: Raba (59'), Quique Álvarez (segundo) (60').
Incidencias
Partido de la decimoquinta jornada de LaLiga Santander disaputado en el Estadio de La Cerámica ante 21.087 espectadores.
After wins for Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid this weekend, the pressure was on Barça to deliver at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
It took them a while to get going but, aided by a red card for Daniel Raba, they eventually broke through.
Suarez scored a brilliant opener, linking up with Paco Alcacer before rounding Sergio Asenjo, and Messi added the second after a defensive error.
Messi's goal was his 525th for the club, matching Gerd Muller's record as the player with the most goals for one club in Europe's top five leagues.
Ernesto Valverde, missing a number of players, opted for Denis Suarez to fill in for the injured Andres Iniesta, with Thomas Vermaelen and Gerard Pique continuing in defence.
In a first half of few chances, Pique hit the bar for Barça while Marc-Andre ter Stegen had to be at his best to keep out Roberto Soriano.
The game changed on two moments, though. The first being Raba's dismissal for a studs-up challenge on Sergio Busquets and the second the introduction of Alcacer in place of the underwhelming Denis.
With just under 20 minutes to play, Messi fed Suarez, who played a give-and-go with Alcacer and then rounded Asenjo to score his seventh league goal of the season.
Messi then wrapped things up, putting two defenders on the floor after receiving a pass from Busquets, who had been gifted the ball in the final third.
The three points allowed Barça to keep their five-point lead over Valencia, who had beaten Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Next up for Valverde's side is Deportivo La Coruna at Camp Nou next weekend, followed by a certain trip to Real Madrid on Dec. 23.
