BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele scored first-half goals to help beat Celta Vigo 2-0 at home on Saturday, ensuring Barcelona reaches the Spanish league’s winter break with a three-point lead.
Messi took his league-leading tally to 15 in 17 rounds, including six goals in his last three matches, as Barcelona stayed ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid.
Messi played a part in Dembele’s opener when he received a pass from Jordi Alba and took a shot that was saved by goalkeeper Ruben Blanco. The rebound fell to Dembele to drive between the legs of a defender to take the 10th-minute lead.
Messi made it 2-0 in the 45th after Jordi Alba found him arriving to the centre of Celta’s box completely unmarked to fire in a left-footed shot.
"On the first goal I looked for (Messi) like always, and on the second goal Luis (Suarez) and Dembele made runs to pull away defenders and left Leo alone," Alba said about his role in both goals. "And Leo never misses."
Celta lost top scorer Iago Aspas — fourth in La Liga with 10 goals– to an apparent leg injury early in the second half. The Spain striker walked gingerly off the pitch to the applause of the Camp Nou crowd, which included former Barcelona star Andres Iniesta.
"Iago is for us like Messi is for Barca," Celta defender Hugo Mallo said. "Any injury (to a teammate) hurts us, but an injury to Iago hurts even more."
Third-placed Sevilla trails Barcelona by six points before visiting Leganes on Sunday.
After Sunday’s games the Spanish league stops play for two weeks.
ATLETICO GRINDS OUT WIN
Antoine Griezmann scored a second-half penalty to help Atletico eke out a 1-0 win at home over Espanyol, keeping the team coached by Diego Simeone right behind defending champion Barcelona.
Espanyol started well as Borja Iglesias drew two saves from goalkeeper Jan Oblak before Leo Baptistao hit the post in the first half hour.
But Atletico tightened up its defence and got the goal it needed from Griezmann.
Griezmann drove in a rising shot from the penalty spot in the 56th after Jorge "Koke" Resurreccion was fouled by Esteban Granero in the area.
Espanyol, which had risen to the upper part of the table earlier in the season, fell into 12th place after a sixth consecutive loss.
WORLD CHAMPIONS
With its game from this round postponed so it could play the Club World Cup, Real Madrid successfully defended its world title by beating Al Ain 4-1 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Barcelona’s win left fourth-placed Madrid eight points back with a game in hand that it will recover on Jan. 3 when it cuts its vacation short to visit Villarreal.
[relatedlinks]
