Messi guides Barca to victory; Real beat Valencia

MADRID - There was no change atop the Spanish Liga as Barcelona won 3-0 at Osasuna, despite a chaotic journey, and Real Madrid beat 10-man Valencia 2-0 at home.

Lionel Messi scored twice for Barca, while Cristiano Ronaldo hit two for Real. Ronaldo is on top of the scorers chart with 17 goals followed by Messi with 15.

Barca now have 37 points from 14 games, and Real have 35.

The kickoff in snowy Pamplona was delayed for 45 minutes because Barca had to make the 500-kilometre trip by train and coach, due to air travel chaos caused by a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers.

The Catalans finally drove in to Pamplona exactly at kick-off time, but the start was delayed while they got changed and warmed up.

Roared on by a capacity crowd, Osasuna made an aggressive start but lacked penetration in attack. Barca gradually established their habitual control in midfield and went ahead in the 26th minute.

Messi set up Pedro with an inch-perfect through-ball, and the winger made it 1-0 with a calm, low drive.

Messi then hit the post with one of his left-foot shots, as Barca’s domination continued.

The impish Argentine made it 2-0 in the 65th minute by racing onto a pass from David Villa and beating slow Osasuna keeper Ricardo. Eight minutes from time, Messi was pulled down for a penalty by defender Sergio and made no mistake with his spot-kick.

Later Saturday, Real needed two late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo to overcome solid but limited Valencia, who had veteran anchorman David Albelda controversially sent off for a non-existent handball.

Until the sending-off, in the 65th minute, Valencia had managed to hold out thanks to several sharp saves from reserve keeper Vicente Guaita.

Without old warhorse Albelda, the visitors lost control. Ronaldo made it 1-0 with 17 minutes left, with a left-foot drive after taking a pass from Mesut Oezil.

In the 87th minute Ronaldo settled the issue by making it 2-0 with a low drive, after a clever, quick counterattack.

Valencia left the Bernabeu protesting, while Real left pleased to be back on track after Monday’s 5-0 humiliation at Barca.

Real defender Raul Albiol said: “We really needed to win today, after what happened on Monday. It was not an easy game, but we improved in the second half and deserved to win.”

In Saturday’s early game, Atletico Madrid continued their crisis with a 2-0 defeat at lowly Levante.

Last week, Atletico lost 3-2 at home against Espanyol and Aris Salonika. On Saturday, they fell behind early when Levante defender Nano headed in from close range after Atletico’s young goalkeeper David de Gea had made a mess of a corner.

De Gea, 20, was a teenage hero in May when Atletico won the Europa League, but he is looking shaky at the moment.

Levante were in the driving seat throughout the match, and Ecuadorean striker Felipe Caicedo made it 2-0 in the 59th minute with a fierce left-foot drive, after being played through by Juanlu.

Atletico are stranded in seventh place with just 20 points from 13 games. The defeat leaves coach Quique Sanchez Flores in jeopardy for the first time since he took over from Abel Resino 13 months ago.

Quique said: “We are in a moment of difficulty and crisis. But we cannot stop, we have to put ourselves back together again. We cannot let ourselves become depressed.”