Messi’s strike put him on 23 league goals for the season, one behind Real forward and top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, and Sociedad coach Philippe Montanier said the Argentine had been the difference between the two sides.

Read “Barca see off Sociedad to keep pace with Real” at DAWN.COM

A tired and depleted Barca team did, however, manage an away tie against an impressive Valencia squad placing the team in a fairly good position on the return leg of the Copa del Rey semis. So not a bad day’s work all things considered.

With the return leg of the quarterfinal ending in a draw and a goalless draw against Villarreal at the weekend, the Catalans seem to be struggling to find their top form and even the great Lionel Messi missed from the penalty spot. However, with the useful away goal against Valencia may give them the advantage they need at the Nou Camp next week.

Read “Valencia CF 1 – 1 FC Barcelona: A Battered & Bleary Barca Squad Settles for a Tie” at The Offside

That’s 13 points dropped now for Barca in the league this term, already two more than in the whole of last season. And if Madrid – who beat Zaragoza 3-1 earlier on Sunday – can match their haul of 49 from the first 19 fixtures, the Catalans will need to win all of their remaining 18 games to claim a fourth successive title. Impossible, surely, even for this spectacular side.

Read “Barcelona’s unlucky 13 – how the Catalans’ dropped away points are handing the title to Real Madrid” at Goal.com

Madrid started the match fired up and going all out to score early on. However, despite being in full attack mode they never quite managed to get the ball into the net, despite coming close on several occasions.

Özil came close to scoring for the visitors after 20 minutes from 30 metres out. The ball went over Pinto’s head, struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced out just in front of the line.

It took 30 minutes or so for Barça to really get into the game. It wasn’t until the end of the first half though that Pedro scored from the area off a Messi assist; and shortly after Alves scored off a free kick.

In the second half neither side produced anything remarkable; Ramos put the ball past Pinto only to have the goal disallowed for tugging Alves.

However, the game was very much from over and an Özil assist to Cristiano Ronaldo gave the visitors their first goal. A few minutes later it started looking serious for Barça; Benzema equalised after putting the ball past Puyol.

However, as the final minutes ticked by Madrid lacked the conviction or energy to score one more goal that would have taken them through. Ramos was sent off for a second yellow card and the final whistle went with the best result for Mourinho against Barça to date.

After the match he was heard to say that it was impossible to beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp, something he denied in his monosyllabic press conference after the match.

Despite Pep Guardiola’s side’s strong showing, the hosts were the more threatening side in the early going. Before 20 minutes had passed, Isco had three chances in the space of two minutes, but Victor Valdes saved each acrobatically to keep the contest scoreless.

However, Lionel Messi scored just after the half hour mark and two goals from Messi and Alexis early in the second half had the match sealed. Messi scored his hat-trick in the 80th minutem while Malaga clawed a goal back a few minutes later.

Read “Messi scores three as Barcelona crush Malaga” at ibnlive

“In the first half we achieved what we wanted to but we found it hard to defend on dead-ball situations. It’s a shame because if we had marked up on the play [that led to Puyol's goal], we would have achieved more,” Casillas told AS after the game.

Once again Real Madrid decided to use brute force against Barça’s skill and although this is one clasico that hasn’t ended in a brawl, defender Pepe has come under widespread criticism throughout the world for some of his actions, particulalrly stamping on Mionel Messi’s hand:

Naturally Jose Mourinho ssaid he didn’t see the incident and there are suggestions in the media that Pepe will face action, but it is up to both Real Madrid and the Spanish League authorities to stamp this kind of behavious out.

Read “Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas: Our marking on set-pieces let us down in Barcelona Copa del Rey loss” at Goal.com

However this early advantage was not to last; just before the break Betis scored their first goal and and just after half time they scored the equaliser. It wasn’t until Mario Alvarez, the Betis defender, was sent off for a second yellow that the balance changed. Xavi passed to Alexis, who put the ball into the back of the net in the 75th minute. Finally Messi scored Barça’s fourth goal of the match from the penalty spot four minutes before the final whistle after a Betis handball.

Barcelona remain five points behind Real Madrid, who they face in the Cops del Rey on Wednesday.

Barcelona went a goal down toward the end of the first half, but Ossuna seemed unable to be able to produce anything more during the remainder of the match. Back on after the break with more energy, Alexis quickly equalised; but it wasn’t until the 72nd minute that Sergi Roberto scored the winning goal.

Bad news for Pedro, who will be off for 10 days with a thigh strain. And Fontas was stretchered off after a bad fall and may have a knee injury requiring surgery – if so, that’s it for the rest of the season.

Next Wednesday Barça will travel to the Bernabeu for the first of the Copa del Rey clasicos. The Nou Camp let is the following Wednesday.

Messi, man of the match in the Champions League final in 2011, also won the Spanish league, Spanish Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup last year.

The award is well deserved as Messi continues to thrill with his exciting football skills that make any defence weak at the knees.

Read “Barcelona star Lionel Messi collects third straight Ballon d’Or award” at The Daily Record