Barca beat Sevilla to close in on La Liga title
Barcelona moved within a whisker of a second straight La Liga title when Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Pedro earned a nervy 3-2 win at Sevilla on Saturday.
Second-placed Real Madrid kept the gap to one point when they won 5-1 at home to Athletic Bilbao, who played 70 minutes at the Bernabeu with 10 men.
La Liga top scorer Messi fired Barca in front in the fifth minute, teenage forward Krkic doubled the lead in the 28th minute and Pedro drove in a third just after the hour.
Two Sevilla goals inside three second-half minutes from Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano set Barca’s nerves jangling but they held on and now need a win at home to relegation threatened Real Valladolid next weekend to clinch the title.
Barca have a record 96 points from 37 matches with Real on 95. Real’s final match is at Malaga, who are also fighting to avoid the drop.