Barcelona snap at Atletico’s heels

Barcelona : Atletico Madrid sweated out a 1-0 win over Villarreal without top scorer Diego Costa to stay top of the Spanish league on Saturday, while Lionel Messi scored two goals as Barcelona registered a  3-1 win over last place Real Betis to stay one point behind.

Messi converted a 14thminute penalty and followed it up with a second spot kick that was blocked by goalkeeper Adan Garrido to seal the victory in the 86th.Earlier, Atletico’s Raul Garcia also netted in the 14th and Diego Simeone’s side did well to deny Villarreal in the second half as they stayed undefeated at their Vicente Calderon stadium through 17 league games this season.

Real Madrid trail the pacesetters by six points before they visit Real Sociedad without injured forward Cristiano Ronaldo.