MADRID – Lionel Messi missed a slew of chances before squeezing home a late strike to give Barcelona a 1-0 win at third-placed Valencia in La Liga on Wednesday and stretch the champions lead over Real Madrid to 10 points. With Barca looking like they might drop points for only the fourth time this season, the Argentina forward struck a low shot in the 77th minute at the Mestalla that spun just inside the post off the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. Messi’s league leading 27th goal lifted Barca to 71 points from 26 matches.
They have now won 12 of 13 away games, drawing last month at Sporting Gijon in their only slip-up on the road. Real Madrid can trim the gap to seven points with a win at Malaga on Thursday, when the Andalusian club’s coach Manuel Pellegrini returns to the Bernabeu to face the man who replaced him at Real at the end of last season, Jose Mourinho. Another of Pellegrini’s former clubs, Villarreal, breathed life into their bid for a place in next season’s Champions League earlier on Wednesday when Giuseppe Rossi struck to give them a 1-0 home win over promoted Hercules.
Europa League champions Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao stumbled in their campaigns for a European berth. Atletico were held to a 1-1 draw at city rivals Getafe and Bilbao squandered the lead to lose 2-1 at Real Zaragoza. In other matches on Wednesday, Osasuna drew 0-0 with visiting Deportivo Coruna and Real Sociedad and Levante drew 1-1 in San Sebastian.
ARSENAL, CITY WIN: Arsenal returned to form with a 5-0 drubbing of Leyton Orient and Manchester City eased past Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday. Nicklas Bendtner fired a hat-trick as Arsenal recovered from their League Cup final loss to Birmingham City in a one-sided fifth-round replay against Orient to set up a titanic quarter-final against Manchester United.
Manchester City also reached the last eight with an easy win over much-changed Aston Villa team and they face Championship side Reading who beat Premier League Everton on Tuesday.
