Barca maintain lead

Barcelona restored their lead at the top of La Liga to five points as Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi struck in the final 20 minutes to edge out 10-man Villarreal 2-0 on Sunday.

Daniel Raba's red card on the hour mark for a wild lunge on Sergio Busquets handed Barca the initiative.

And their pressure told when Suarez rounded off a fine team move before Messi blasted home a second to get the Catalans back to winning ways after successive draws with Valencia and Celta Vigo in La Liga.

Valencia remain Barca's closest challengers five points back, but Atletico Madrid also maintained their title charge with a 1-0 win at Real Betis to stay six points off the top.

Real Madrid are eight points back in fourth and Barca will have the chance to go into El Clasico away at Real in two weeks' time with an 11-point lead over their rivals.

Gerard Pique nearly gave Barca the perfect start at the Ceramic Stadium as his header came back off the crossbar from Messi's corner just four minutes in.

However, Barca dominance of possession was largely stale before the break as Villarreal posed the greater threat on the counter-attack.

Messi orchestrated the visitors' attacking threat after the break as he constantly freed Jordi Alba down Barca's left.

Villarreal had to survive the final half hour a man light when Raba was dismissed for connecting with his studs on Busquets' ankle as the Spanish international cleared.

Another Alba cross was turned onto the post by Suarez on the stretch.

However, the Uruguayan finally broke Villarreal's resistance after exchanging a neat one-two with Alcacer to round Asenjo and net his seventh goal of the season.

And Messi secured all three points seven minutes from time as he was played in by Busquets to smash past the helpless Asenjo.