Messi rescue
LIONEL MESSI spared Barcelona’s blushes with a last-minute penalty winner against Leganes last night.
The Argentine ace had opened the scoring after four minutes but Unai Lopez equalised 19 minutes from time for lively Leganes who deserved at least a point.
But Messi stepped up to seal victory and leave Barca a point behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid, who have two games in hand.
Gareth Bale scored a superb goal on his return after almost three months out with an ankle injury as Real beat Espanyol 2-0 on Saturday. The Wales star said: “The reception I got when I came on was incredible. It’s rewarding to come back and score a goal.
“I’ve only been training with the first team for five days, I’m lacking a lot of fitness.”
Carlo Ancelotti could face disciplinary action after his Bayern Munich side’s 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin.
The Italian raised his middle finger to home fans and said later: “I made the gesture because I was spat on.”
Leipzig closed the gap on leaders Bayern to five points after a 2-1 win at Borussia Monchengladbach yesterday.
PWD L F A Pt Juventus................ 25 21 0 4 53 17 63 Roma...................... 25 18 2 5 54 22 56 Napoli..................... 25 16 6 3 60 27 54 Inter Milan.............. 25 15 3 7 40 24 48 Lazio ...................... 25 14 5 6 44 29 47 Atalanta ................. 25 14 4 7 39 26 46 AC Milan ................ 25 13 5 7 36 29 44 Fiorentina .............. 25 11 7 7 42 35 40 Torino .................... 25 9 8 8 46 40 35 Sampdoria ............. 25 9 7 9 30 31 34 Chievo.................... 25 9 5 11 26 34 32 Sassuolo................ 25 9 3 13 35 41 30 Udinese.................. 25 8 5 12 28 34 29 Cagliari .................. 25 8 4 13 33 51 28 Bologna ................. 25 7 6 12 23 38 27 Genoa .................... 25 6 7 12 27 40 25 Empoli.................... 25 5 8 12 15 34 23 Palermo ................. 25 3 5 17 21 49 14 Crotone.................. 25 3 4 18 20 43 13 Pescara.................. 25 2 6 17 27 55 12 L F A Pt 4 1 56 18 52 6 2 63 19 51 4 4 46 28 49 6 4 43 19 45 2 8 36 32 41 9 4 30 15 39 5 8 28 28 35 5 8 36 31 35 3 9 36 36 33 8 7 30 31 32 9 7 22 28 30 7 8 31 33 28 6 10 22 35 24 8 9 29 36 23 5 11 31 40 23 7 11 26 35 19 6 13 16 39 18 4 15 25 47 16 7 13 20 48 16 7 15 24 52 10