Messi hits winner as Barca make it 17 wins in- a-row

BARCELONA marched on to their 17th consecutive victory in all competitions on Sunday, coming from behind to beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at the Nou Camp in the Primera Liga.

Ronaldinho scored from the penalty spot in the 36th minute and Argentine forward Leo Messi added the second in the 51st minute after Bilbao, who made like difficult for the champions, had taken an early lead through Fernando Llorente.

Barca had Portugal midfielder Deco sent off in the final minute. The win confirms Barcelona as the runaway leaders in Spain at the halfway point of the season, as they hold the top spot with 46 points, seven ahead of second-placed Osasuna.

Real Madrid remain fourth after a 4-2 thriller against Sevilla in last night’s late game. Gutiérrez Guti opened Real’s account after six minutes before Luis Fabiano equalised five minutes after the interval. Two goals in two minutes from Zidane seemed to have the tie wrapped up on the hour mark but Sevilla battled back and cut the deficit with a goal from Aitor Ocio 10 minutes from time. But three minutes into injury time, Zidane was put through by Robinho and the Frenchman slammed his shot past Andres Palop for his third, and Real’s fourth. Madrid are now three points adrift of third-placed Valencia.

Bottom club Alaves pulled off a shock 2-0 away victory at high-flying Deportivo La Coruna, only the struggling Basque side’s third win of the season.

Australian international John Aloisi headed Alaves in front after 21 minutes, connecting with a long pass out of the midfield by Jandro Castro.

Equatorial Guinea international Rodofo Bodipo added Alaves’ second shortly after the break, blasting home an Aloisi cross.

Alaves’ hero though was their Argentine goalkeeper Leo Constanzo, who pulled off a series of first-rate saves to deny Deportivo and give Juan Carlos Oliva a winning start as coach.

Another surprise came when Racing Santander beat Villarreal 1-0, despite having to play most of the second half with only nine men.

Racing’s Sergio Matabuena was left unmarked on the edge of the box to head home a Raul Martin cross midway through the first half for the only goal of the game.

Alfaro was sent off and he was soon joined on the sidelines by Pablo Pinillos but Racing hung on, while Champions League contenders Villarreal failed to score for their third successive league match.

Barca’s bid for a second successive league title was helped by second-placed Osasuna losing their first match in 11 outings, going down 2-0 at Valencia on Saturday.

Valencia stay third but are now only three points below Osasuna, thanks to goals from Mario Regueiro and David Villa.

In Italy, Leaders Juventus performed way below their best but still managed to beat Reggina 1-0 to remain well clear of the chasing pack at the halfway stage of the Serie A season.

Alessandro Del Piero received a standing ovation before the match when he was presented with an award for becoming Juve’s all-time top scorer earlier in the week.

And he kept the home crowd on their feet by grabbing the only goal of the game with a stunning left-footed shot seconds before half time.

Juve’s 17th victory in 19 games left them on 52 points, 10 clear of Inter Milan who won 3-2 at home to Cagliari, with Adriano scoring twice for the hosts.

In last night’s late game, Inter’s city neighbours AC Milan crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Roma. Alessandro Amantino Mancini hit the game’s only goal 10 minutes from time. AC remain in third place, two points behind Inter.

Fiorentina strengthened their position in fourth place thanks to a last-gasp 2-1 win at home to Chievo where Luca Toni netted twice for the Florence club, taking his haul for the season to 18.

Although Toni is Serie A’s leading scorer, they were his first goals since November 27 when he converted a penalty away to Roma.

In other matches, fifth-placed Livorno were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Tuscan rivals Siena and Treviso climbed off the bottom by claiming the same result at Udinese.

Ascoli defeated fellow relegation candidates Empoli 3-1, while Parma remain in danger of losing their top flight status after drawing 1-1 at home to Lazio.

Leaders PSV Eindhoven and second-placed Feyenoord both secured 1-0 away wins in the Dutch first division on yesterday. PSV maintained their one-point advantage at the top by beating Sparta Rotterdam despite playing half the match a man short after Michael Lamey was sent off just before the interval. Sparta dominated but PSV stole the victory after 74 minutes when Nebojsa Gudelj turned the ball into his own net after Jefferson Farfan’s header bounced back off the post.

PSV have 45 points from 19 matches while Sparta remain third from bottom with 16 points. Defender Andre Bahia headed home a corner after 27 minutes to hand Feyenoord a 1-0 victory at Vitesse Arnhem, their first win at Vitesse for 10 years.