Majestic Messi the star as Barca bandwagon rolls on

BARCELONA’s grip on the Spanish title shows little sign of loosening after another classy display saw them cruise past Real Mallorca 3-0 last night.

Mallorca never really had much of a prayer against a Barca side that have now won 14 consecutive league matches - especially given Eduardo Tazzio’s red card in the second half.

Ludovic Giuly gave Frank Rijkaard’s side a 34th minute lead but it was substitute Lionel Messi who stole the plaudits, scoring two sumptuous goals in the second half.

Nearest rivals Valencia needed two goals in the last seven minutes to secure a 2-2 draw with Zaragoza.

Zaragoza took a two goal lead through Sergio Garcia and Ewerthon but the dismissal of David Generelo proved to be their undoing.

Substitute Patrick Kluivert pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute before setting up Pablo Aimar’s leveller with just a minute left.

Real Madrid had a good away win over Celta Vigo last night. Robinho gave Real the lead after 11 minutes but Matias Lequi equalised for the hosts five minutes before the break. Cicinho scored what turned out to be the winner 11 minutes into the second half.

Osasuna suffered a setback in their bid for a top three finish when they lost 2-0 at home to Real Betis, whose scorers were Luis Fernandez and Edu.

Espanyol had too much for Malaga as they raced into a 31 minute 3-0 lead through a Raul Tamudo double and one from Luis Garcia. Malaga’s consolation came from Francisco Ruano.

Sevilla claimed an impressive 2-0 win over Villarreal, while Alaves cruised past Real Sociedad 3-1.

In Italy David Trezeguet scored a hat-trick in the first 18 minutes as Juventus continued their march towards retaining the Serie A title with a 3-1 win at Ascoli.

Trezeguet’s quickfire treble clinched Juve’s 19th victory in 22 matches and moved them 8 points clear of second-placed Inter, who defeated bottom club Lecce 2-0 last night - Luis Figo and Dejan Stankovic on target.

AC Milan are 12 points off the pace in third spot after their 1-1 draw at home to Sampdoria on Saturday.

Fiorentina are still fourth despite being held to a 0-0 draw at Udinese, while Roma climbed above Livorno into fifth place after defeating the Tuscan side 3-0 at the Olympic stadium.

In Germany SV Hamburg saw their title hopes go up in smoke as struggling FC Nuremberg came from behind to win 2-1 on Saturday and leave Thomas Doll’s team nine points behind leaders Bayern Munich - 3-1 winners over Borussia Monchengladbach on Friday.