Iniesta relieved as Barca edge nine-goal thriller

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta admits he was relieved his side held on for a win in their nine-goal thriller with Deportivo La Coruna at the weekend.

Lionel Messi fired a super hat-trick but that only told half the story on a night of sensational drama at Riazor.

It seemed the Catalans were on their way to a thumping win on Saturday after Jordi Alba, Cristian Tello and Messi all struck within the first 18 minutes but Depor replied with a Luis Pizzi penalty and an Alex Bergantinos strike.

Messi struck his second and third in-between Pizzi’s second of the match and the dismissal of Javier Mascherano, while an own goal from Alba left the visitors clinging on for dear life. That they managed to hold on to claim a 5-4 success was of great satisfaction to Iniesta.

“We’re leaving with the sensation we won a very difficult match,” he said. “We have to learn a lot of things from this match.”

Messi took his tally for 2012 to 59 — beating his previous record of two years ago. “Statistics are only numbers. I’m only concerned with winning whenever possible,” he said.

Atletico Madrid remain level on points with Barca after leaving it late to beat Real Sociedad 1-0 last night, Falcao firing a brilliant curling free-kick in the 90th minute. Real Madrid are in hot pursuit after their 2-0 win at home to Celta Vigo with goals from Gonzalo Higuain and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.

In Italy, Inter Milan kept pace with Serie A leaders Juventus after seeing off Catania 2-0 at the San Siro yesterday. Second-placed Napoli beat Juventus 2-0 on Saturday. Lazio are third after a 3-2 win over Milan.