Barcelona: Lionel Messi grabbed his 59th and 60th goals of the season as Barcelona laboured to a flattering 4-1 victory over 10-man Zaragoza at La Romareda to provisionally close the gap on Liga leaders Real Madrid to just three points.
Despite missing a penalty just six minutes previously, Carlos Aranda have the home team the lead on the half hour mark. However, Carles Puyol equalised on 36 minutes before Lionel Messi put Pep Guardiola's men into the lead just three minutes later as Zaragoza were forced to play the whole of the second-half with 10 players after Abraham Minero's sending off for two bookings.
Lionel Messi's scored a late penalty with four minutes to go before Pedro grabbed a fourth as Barcelona wrapped up the win, as Madrid will now look to increase their lead back to six points on Sunday versus Valencia.
The home team made a positive start to proceedings and should have taken the lead in the fifth minute. Ruben Micael found himself clear on the left side of the Barcelona box and was able to square the ball to Carlos Aranda, only for the striker to inexplicably mishit it, sending his effort away from goal.
Barcelona struggled to create chances in the early stages and were given an almighty fright when Victor Valdes brought down Angel Lafita in the box to give away a penalty on 23 minutes, just seconds after Aranda had struck the post. Aranda was the man to step up to take the spot-kick yet the forward struck the ball tamely with Valdes parrying the ball to safety.
Despite the disappointment of his penalty miss, Aranda was able to pick himself up and grab the opening goal of the game on the half hour mark. Pablo Alvarez's through ball seemed to catch the Barca defence out as Aranda raced clear of Javier Mascherano. The Spanish striker's initial effort was poor as Valdes blocked the ball yet the quick-thinking striker managed to head the rebound into the net.
However the Blaugrana were level just six minutes later and had some nightmare goalkeeping from Roberto to thank. The former Benfica shot-stopper completely missed Cesc Fabregas' corner allowing Carles Puyol to poke the ball home from 12 yards out - a real gift for the visitors.
The Catalans then completed an amazing three-minute turnaround when they took the lead on 39 minutes. Hitting Zaragoza on the counterattack, Alexis Sanchez' cross-field pass found Lionel Messi who sidestepped Paulo da Silva before thrashing the ball into the top corner from 15 yards out for his 59th goal of the season in all competitions.
Just before the break, the home side's evening went from bad to worse when they were reduced to 10 men. Abraham Minero, who has already been booked, earned his second yellow of the evening for tripping Alexis after the Chilean had speeded past him on the right wing.
Barcelona looked far from convincing in the early stages of the second-half but could have extended their lead on 63 minutes. Alexis received a pass from Messi before showing some quick feet to get the better of Javier Paredes and slamming a low effort goalwards from 15 yards out which was brilliantly tipped around the post by Roberto.
The visitors then put the result beyond doubt on 86 minutes after Paredes brought down Alexis in the box. Messi stepped up to slam the ball past a helpless Roberto to score his 60th of the season before Pedro grabbed a goal during injury time following the Argentine's assist to award his men all three points.
Guardiola's side entertain Getafe on Tuesday evening in Liga while Zaragoza face a tricky away trip to Sevilla two nights later.
In other matches, Real Betis beat Villarreal 3-1 to remain four points from the drop, Carlos Vela netted twice to give Real Sociedad a 2-2 draw at Espanyol, and last-place Sporting Gijon lost 2-0 to Getafe.
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