Messi brings home Barça's bacon as champion comes to a boil

In Saturday night's intense top-of-the-standings clash at Camp Nou, champion Barcelona confirmed it was reaching its best form in a 3-1 win over Villarreal with the clásico against arch-rival Real Madrid the next Liga game in the stadium just two weeks away.

Having looked impressive in recent weeks against lesser lights, Barça demonstrated against third-place Villarreal that it has regained the ability to play at a high tempo, after a somewhat patchy start to the campaign on the back of a World Cup-affected pre-season for many of its stars. Coach Pep Guardiola sent out an offensively charged team, and his front line of Pedro, David Villa and Leo Messi pushed right up on Villarreal's back four, recovering the ball quickly before launching a fresh attack. For his part, Juan Carlos Garrido had impressed on Villarreal's midfielders the need to press up to prevent the home team flowing forward too freely, and after Barca's initial burst came to nothing due to a lack of clarity when in the visitor's box, the dangerous yellow-shirted strike duo Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar began to see more of the ball and combine promisingly.

In fact, when Barcelona's go-ahead goal came it was almost against the run of play, Villarreal was for once caught cold in midfield as Xavi and Andrés Iniesta combined in simple fashion to put Villa through to score. The Asturian proved he has recovered his sharp eye for goal, moving with great speed and showing superb skill to chip the ball over the outstretched leg of Carlos Marchena before giving goalkeeper Diego López no chance.

Then came the first of the night's controversial moments when, if justice had prevailed, Barcelona should have put itself in an ideal position from which to kill the game. Just four minutes after the opener, the linesman wrongly flagged Messi for offside as he bore down on López's goalmouth accompanied by Pedro and not a defender in sight. Instead of 2-0, however, the 26th minute brought a Villarreal equalizer after a mazy run and fine finish by the Brazilian Nilmar. Guardiola was incensed, squaring up to Garrido between the dugouts, and for several minutes, Barça's players seemed unsettled and used every opportunity to air their grievances with the referee.

The second half began like the first, but this time Barcelona squeezed Villarreal tightly into its own side and never let go. Messi broke the deadlock after getting possession through Xaxi's quickly taken free kick, playing two wall passes to Pedro before chipping delightfully over López from a tight angle with what is supposedly his weaker right foot. But before goal number 10 of the season for the world's greatest, when he sneaked on to a deflected effort by the busy Pedro, Villarreal was itself hard done by the referee after a foul on Valero inches outside the penalty area. Maxwell should have been red carded and the free kick came to nothing. "I attach immense value to this victory," said Guardiola. Barça remains one point behind Real, which won 0-1 at Gijón on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, Atlético Madrid toppled visitor Osasuna 3-0 as Diego Forlán broke a 12-game drought with a brace and a fine assist for Kun Agüero. Athletic Bilbao had to dig deeper to offer three points to its fans, nursing a 1-0 advantage from Fernando Llorente's 10th-minute strike to the end with just nine players after Koikili and Xabier Castillo saw red.