Barcelona held in absence of Messi, Suarez

BARCELONA: Barcelona dearly missed Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as the La Liga champions were held to a goalless draw at home to nine-man Malaga on Saturday, missing the chance to go top of the standings. Messi was taken ill before the game while Suarez, joint-top scorer in La Liga along with the Argentine, was suspended. Captain Andres Iniesta was also injured and Luis Enrique’s side were incapable of prising open a Malaga side happy to sit back and soak up pressure for the majority of the game. Barcelona stayed second on 26 points, one behind leaders Real Madrid.

Despite dominating possession Barca struggled to carve out many opportunities and on the rare occasion they created a chance, Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni was there to frustrate them, clawing away efforts from Gerard Pique in either half and producing a sensational save to deny Neymar in injury time. Malaga had defender Diego Llorente dismissed in the 69th minute for a straight red card following a lunge on Neymar, but Barca still could not find a way through.