DOUBLE ANCHORS REAL VICTORY

Seville, April 1: Lionel Messi rescued Barcelona’s unbeaten season as the La Liga leaders scored twice in the last three minutes to snatch a 2- 2 draw at Sevilla.

Messi came off the bench with his team two goals down at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as Luis Suarez pulled one back in the 88th minute, before the Argentinian struck the equaliser a minute later.

Barcelona had not lost a league game this term, or in 13 months, but finishes from Franco Vazquez and Luis Muriel looked to have sealed Sevilla a stunning victory.

But Messi came up trumps again and he celebrated his goal, a bending longrange strike into the bottom corner, by rushing to the jubilant coaching staff and substitutes on the touchline.

He had been left out of the starting line- up due to a hamstring complaint, with coach Ernesto Valverde perhaps keeping one eye on Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal against Roma.

But he still made the decisive intervention even if Barca’s draw means Atletico Madrid can cut the gap at the top to nine points by beating Deportivo La Coruna at home on today.

Sevilla, meanwhile, are still 13 points adrift of the top four, havng played a game more than Valencia, and must recover in time for their own Champions League clash against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Gareth Bale made a strong case for a starting spot against Juventus by scoring twice in Real Madrid’s 3- 0 victory over Las Palmas as Cristiano Ronaldo was rested.

Bale’s double in Gran Canaria served as a timely reminder to coach Zinedine Zidane, with the trip to Turin for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals to come on Tuesday.

Karim Benzema had doubled Real’s lead before half- time as Los Blancos moved just one point behind secondplaced Atletico. Las Palmas stay 18th, seven points adrift of safety.

The only worry for Zidane was the sight of Nacho hobbling off in the first half, with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.

“Everything is thing, the injury said. positive except one of Nacho,” Zidane year, continued to look dangerous but proved wasteful in front of goal as he prodded past the post just two minutes after Subasic had saved at his feet.

But the 19- year- old continued to create opportunities, and it was his jinking run which ended with Cavani slotting into the corner.

The striker has now scored eight goals in French League Cup finals, after previous doubles in 2014, 2015 and last year.