Madrid—Barcelona won 1-0 at bottom side Huesca on Sunday as Lionel Messi became the first foreigner to make 500 appearances in Spain’s La Liga, while a late Luis Suarez goal secured leaders Atletico Madrid victory against Alaves.
Messi returned for Barca after missing the final game of 2020 with an ankle knock and swung in a cross for Frenkie de Jong to divert home for the only goal on 27 minutes.
Although Ronald Koeman’s side began a potentially season-defining run of four consecutive away matches with a comfortable win, they remain a distant 10 points behind Atletico in fifth having played a game more.
“In general, aside from the last 20 minutes we played well,” said Koeman.
“We created a lot of danger, which isn’t easy against a team that shuts up at the back. We got a great goal and we had two or three more chances to pull away.”
Barca dominated possession and created a number of chances but Huesca goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez produced several fine saves to keep the hosts in touch.
After De Jong’s opener Messi was denied a second just before half-time when Fernandez superbly clawed away his free-kick heading towards the top corner.
The Argentine was again thwarted by the legs of Fernandez in the second half after combining well with Pedri, moments after Marc-Andre ter Stegen reacted sharply to keep out Rafa Mir’s inventive back-heel.
That was a rare threat from Huesca who have now won just once in 17 tries this season but had taken points off most visitors to their Estadio El Alcoraz so far, including Atletico in September.
“We came out strong and very concentrated. It’s the main base we need. If we have that, we improve a lot with the ball and if we get better in front of goal then we can have a very good start to the year,” added Koeman.
Meanwhile in Milan, Italy, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as champions Juventus bounced back from their first Serie A defeat of the season by beating Udinese 4-1 on Sunday to move up to fifth place.
The Milan clubs are top of the Italian league with Juventus 10 points adrift of the summit having played a game less.
Leaders AC Milan stayed one point ahead of Inter with a 2-0 win over midtable Benevento despite playing an hour a man down.
City rivals Inter crushed lowly Crotone 6-2 with Lautaro Martinez bagging his first hat-trick for the club.
But Milan restored their advantage thanks to a Franck Kessie penalty on 15 minutes and Rafael Leao’s terrific curling strike from a tight angle shortly after half-time.
Sandro Tonali’s sending off after 33 minutes for a high tackle on Artur Ionita did not hold back Stefano Pioli’s side.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was solid in the Milan goal while Gianluca Caprari dragged a penalty wide on the hour.
“We don’t let ourselves be put under pressure by the results of the opponents,” said Pioli whose side are unbeaten in 27 league games going back to March.
“We’re ambitious, we’re not hiding it and we aim to win the next match as well against Juventus (on Wednesday).”