First Division - Day 21

Málaga 1 - Barcelona 2

Málaga: Kameni; Rosales, Angeleri, Weligton (Duda 83’), Miguel Torres; Juanpi, Recio (Pablo Fornals 69’), Camacho, Chory Castro; Duje Cop (Santa Cruz 80’), Charles. 4-4-2.
Barcelona: Claudio Bravo; Aleix Vidal, Mascherano, Vermaelen (Mathieu 46‘), Adriano (Sergi Roberto73 ‘); Arda Turan, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Luis Suárez, Munir (Rakitic 56‘). 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 02. Munir. Turned shot into net after Luis Suárez played ball across goal.
1-1. 32. Juanpi. Shot which deflected in off Mascherano from Charles pass.
1-2. 51. Messi. Struck acrobatic volley wide of Kameni from Adriano centre.

Yellow cards: Charles 25’, Vermaelen 44’, Messi 65’, Arda Turan 71’, Fornals 86’, Duda 94’.

Barcelona moved back to the top of the table pending Atlético’s game on Sunday after a 1-2 victory at Málaga on Saturday afternoon. Munir (substituting for the injured Neymar) connected with a Luis Suárez centre to open the scoring with just over a minute gone, but Bravo had to push a shot from Chory Castro on to the post, and Juanpi made it all square later in the first half after Charles set him up. Messi had a couple of efforts blocked either side of half time, and some six minutes in to the second half he restored the lead with an acrobatic volley from Adriano’s cross. However Bravo had to keep out Castro, Rosales and Cop after that, and the result was in doubt right up until the end.