adminBARCELONA. — Lionel Messi struck another trademark free-kick as Barcelona moved to within one point of Spanish La Liga soccer leaders Real Madrid with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
Madrid have two games in hand, the first of which was supposed to take place yesterday at Celta Vigo.
However, that match has been called off after wind damage to Celta’s Balaidos stadium left the ground unsafe to hold the game, La Liga confirmed after a security evaluation was carried out by local authorities.
Barca took their chance to apply pressure at the Camp Nou, but needed some wasteful finishing by Athletic in a much tighter game than the scoreline suggests.Luis Suarez was left on the bench to allow Paco Alcacer a rare start and he netted his first La Liga goal since joining from Valencia for €30 million in August, while Messi came off 25 minutes from time. — AFP.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu