Midweek matches in La Liga saw Barcelona regaining top spot from Real Madrid. Barcelona visited El Sardinero, home ground of Racing Santander for a league encounter. The match ended 1-4 to the visitors with two goals from Messi and a goal each from Ibrahimovich, and Pique.
Barcelona was awarded a free kick in the 20th minute, which Xavi took, and passed the ball towards Messi whose cross in the penalty box was headed home by Ibrahimovich in the 20th minute, thus drawing first blood. A minute later Ibrahimovich almost scored another goal but his shot hit the far post.
By now the Catalans were striking towards the Racing goal area like huge waves hitting the beach. Messi showed his wonders two minutes later in the 24th minute with a little help from Xavi. Messi was successful in making the score 0-2.
A defensive error in the 27th minute by the home team saw Barcelona scoring another goal. Five defenders tried tackling Ibrahimovich in the box who was successful in passing the ball to Pique who was left unmarked. Pique held his nerves in front of the Racing keeper and placed the ball in the net in a neat finish.
At the stroke of half time, the score remained 0-3. 18 minutes into the second half saw another brilliant goal from Messi. He just played around with the defenders in the penalty box, passing through them and striking the ball elegantly into the net, making the score 0-4.
Óscar Serrano scored in the 73rd minute giving Racing a consolation goal. The match ended 1-4 with the final whistle. Another match in La Liga saw Sevilla winning 2-0 at home against Mallorca. Squillaci and Perotti scoring a goal each in the 16th minute and 25th minute respectively.
