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Tuesday, 30 January 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
BARCELONA (Reuters): Lionel Messi scored a spectacular free kick to give Barcelona a 2-1 win over struggling Alaves on Sunday while Luis Suarez was also on target as the Catalans battled back from a goal down at halftime to stay 11 points clear at the top of La Liga.
Alaves were the only team to win at the Nou Camp in the league last season and looked set to overshadow Philippe Coutinho’s first start for Barca when Sweden striker John Guidetti gave them a shock lead in the 23rd minute, falling over as he lashed the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Suarez finally levelled for the Catalans in the 72nd minute, scoring for the eighth league game in a row after some impressive saves from visiting goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco had kept Barca at bay, while Messi’s sumptuous free kick in the 84th gave them a seventh consecutive league win.
Atletico Madrid overcame the absence of injured striker Diego Costa to beat Las Palmas 3-0 while Sevilla were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Getafe due to a controversial equaliser in injury time.
Barca top the standings with 57 points, 11 above nearest challengers Atletico and 19 ahead of champions Real Madrid, who roared back from their miserable start to 2018 with an impressive 4-1 win at third-placed Valencia on Saturday.
Atletico’s confidence had been knocked down a peg by their King’s Cup elimination to Sevilla but they saw off 19th-placed Las Palmas with strikes from Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Thomas Partey in the second half.
The visiting side deployed a high defensive line and paid the price for their risky approach when Griezmann latched on to a pass from Juanfran to race unchallenged towards goal and score in the 61st minute.
Griezmann was the catalyst for the second goal, intercepting a pass to help work the ball towards Torres, while Partey nudged a Yannick Carrasco pass into an empty net in the 88th.
Reuters: Paris St Germain forward Neymar left Barcelona in order to escape the shadow of Lionel Messi and increase Brazil’s chances of winning this year’s World Cup, according to club and country team mate Dani Alves.
Neymar became the world’s most expensive footballer in August when he completed a 222 million-euro ($ 276 million) transfer from Barcelona to PSG.
The 25-year-old finished third behind Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2017 Ballon d’Or.
“I think he’s (Neymar) up there with (Lionel) Messi as the most influential player in world football. The thing is, he had to come out of his shadow a little,” Alves told www.fifa.com. “Playing with someone as unique as Leo is the most incredible thing that can happen to you, but there’s always that doubt in your mind if it’s you that really has the quality or if it’s him. It was important for Ney’s own development and for Brazil for him to follow his own path.”
PSG have opened an 11-point gap at the top of Ligue 1, with Neymar contributing 17 goals and 11 assists.
However, Alves believes Neymar’s main objective this season is to deliver PSG’s first Champions League title. “It’s our main goal. It’s what Neymar was thinking when he left Barca and it’s what I was thinking when I left Juventus. That’s what moves us,” he added. “We’re ready to compete and the question of whether that preparation leads us to victory or elimination is going to depend on how we work as a team.”
PSG resume their European campaign on 14 February in the first leg of a mouth-watering last-16 tie against holders Real Madrid.
