Messi, Suárez, Griezmann on the mark for Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Antoine Griezmann scored a goal each as Barcelona comfortably beat Alavés 4-1 to keep the Spanish league lead yesterday.

Arturo Vidal also netted for Barcelona, which opened a threepoint lead over second-place Real Madrid ahead of its home game against Athletic Bilbao today. Barcelona holds a fivegoal advantage over Madrid in the tiebreaker between the teams.

Barcelona and Madrid drew 00 in the first "clásico" of the season on Wednesday in a game postponed from October because of a separatist rally in the Catalan capital.

This is the last round before the break, with the league resuming in the first week of January.

Suárez had a role in all four goals at the Camp Nou Stadium, scoring his own from a penalty kick in the 75th minute.

He had set up Griezmann's opener in the 14th and Vidal's second goal in the 45th. The Uruguay striker also assisted in Messi's beautiful strike from outside the area in the 69th.

Messi's goal — his 50th this year with club and country — saw him surpass Real Madrid's Karim Benzema as the league's top scorer with 13 goals, one more than the Frenchman. Suárez is next with 10 goals. Griezmann has seven, including three in his last four league games.

Barcelona had two goals disallowed for offside, one by Messi in the first half and another by Griezmann in the second.

Barcelona has won six straight league matches against Alavés, averaging more than three goals a game.

The crowd of 63,054 was the second lowest at the Camp Nou this season, with 58,198 at the league game against Valladolid in October.

SEVILLA WIN AGAIN

Sevilla won 2-0 at relegationthreatened Mallorca to end a two-game winless streak and strengthen its grip on third place.

Diego Carlos scored in the first half and Éver Banega in the second to leave Sevilla within five points of Barcelona.

It was the fifth straight winless league game for Mallorca.

Mallorca complained of a foul by Carlos in Sevilla's first goal, and Banega's second goal came from a penalty kick awarded after video review. Mallorca also had a goal disallowed by VAR because of offside.