Barca protect lead before winter break
Atletico grind out win
BARCELONA, Spain, Dec 23, (AP): Lionel Messi ensured Barcelona reached the Spanish League’s winter break atop the standings, playing a part in both goals of a 2-0 win at home over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Messi scored Barcelona’s second goal to take his league-leading tally to 15 in 17 rounds, including six goals in his last three matches, as Barcelona stayed three points ahead of Atletico Madrid.
“Our goal was to finish the year as leaders, and with the same advantage we had going into the round,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said.
Messi helped to set up Ousmane Dembele’s opener when he received a pass from Jordi Alba and took a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Ruben Blanco. The rebound fell to Dembele to drive between the legs of a defender to take the 10th-minute lead.
Messi made it 2-0 in the 45th after Jordi Alba found him arriving to the center of Celta’s box completely unmarked to fire in a left-footed shot.
“On the first goal I looked for (Messi) like always, and on the second goal Luis (Suarez) and Dembele made runs to pull away defenders and left Leo alone,” Alba said about his role in both goals. “And Leo never misses.” .
Celta lost top scorer Iago Aspas – fourth in La Liga with 10 goals – to a leg injury early in the second half. The Spain striker walked gingerly off the pitch to the applause of the Camp Nou crowd, which included Everton’s Lucas Digne (top), and Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko vie for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Tottenham at Goodison Park stadium in Liverpool, England on Dec 23. (AP)
former Barcelona star Andres Iniesta.
Celta said Aspas hurt a muscle in his right thigh and expects him to be sidelined for a month.
“Iago is for us like Messi is for Barca,” Celta defender Hugo Mallo said. “Any injury (to a teammate) hurts us, but an injury to Iago hurts even more.” Antoine Griezmann scored a second-half penalty to help Atletico eke out a 1-0 win at home over Espanyol, keeping the team coached by Diego Simeone right behind defending champion Barcelona.
Espanyol started well as Borja Iglesias drew two saves from goalkeeper Jan Oblak before Leo Baptistao hit the post in the first half hour.
But Atletico tightened up its defense and got the goal it needed from Griezmann.
Griezmann drove in a rising shot from the penalty spot in the 56th after Jorge “Koke” Resurreccion was fouled by Esteban Granero in the area.
Espanyol, which had risen to the upper part of the table earlier in the season, fell into 12th place after a sixth consecutive loss.
With their game from this round postponed so they could play the Club World Cup, Real Madrid successfully defended their world title by beating Al Ain 4-1 in Abu Dhabi.
Barcelona’s win left fourth-placed Madrid eight points back with a game in hand that they will recover on Jan 3 when they cut their vacation short to visit Villarreal.
Valladolid’s Oscar Plano scored in stoppage time to snatch a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao Eibar also earned a 1-1 draw at Real Betis after Fabian Orellana converted a second-half penalty.
Third-placed Lyon closed the gap on Lille to two points as forward Nabil Fekir netted for the third straight game in a 1-1 draw at fourth-placed Montpellier. Lyon have a game in hand against Lille, and Montpellier have one in hand against Lyon after previous weekends saw a spate of postponements due to widespread anti-government protests around the country.
Saint-Etienne were the big winners on the night, moving level on points with Montpellier after a comfortable 3-0 home win against Dijon. Saint-Etienne’s front line worked well, with Kevin Monnet-Paquet, Wahbi Khazri and Robert Beric all scoring.
At the other end of the table, the pressure was mounting on beleaguered Monaco coach Thierry Henry after losing at home to last-placed Guingamp 2-0. Since taking charge in October, Henry has won only three out of 14 matches overall.
Monaco are in 19th place and only two points ahead of Guingamp, who scored in the second half through forwards Marcus Thuram and Nolan Roux.
Thuram is the son of France great Lilian Thuram, Henry’s teammate when France won the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship two years later.
After Lille’s 19-year-old Portuguese striker Rafael Leao made it 1-0, Ivory Coast forward MaxAlain Gradel replied with two
penalties for Toulouse.
It took Gradel to eight league goals in 19 games, as many as he managed for Toulouse in 29 matches last season.
Marseille have gone six games without a win in all competitions after drawing at Angers 1-1. With six minutes left, defender Bouna Sarr started and finished a move to earn a point for Marseille.
Strasbourg midfielder Adrien Thomasson and center half Lamine Kone scored in a 2-0 home win against mid-table Nice.
Rennes secured a fifth straight win under new coach Julien Stephan, 4-0 at home against Nimes.
Lowly Normandy side Caen got a valuable point in drawing at Reims 2-2.
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti (left), challenges for the ball with Nantes’ Gabriel Boschilia during the Ligue 1 soccer match between Paris SaintGermain and Nantes at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Dec 22.
(AP)