Spanish La Liga:A NERVOUS looking Barcelona stayed one point clear of Real Madrid as Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted in an unconvincing 3-1 win over basement side Xerez on Saturday.
Barca face the formidable task of overturning a 3-1 deficit in their Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Inter Milan on Wednesday and Pep Guardiola left top scorer Lionel Messi and several other regulars out of his starting line-up.
The hosts were cruising when Jeffren and Henry put them 2-0 ahead after 24 minutes but a fine strike from Mario Bermejo a minute later and sustained Xerez pressure at the start of the second half shook the fans at Camp Nou.
The introduction of Messi and defender Gerard Pique in the 52nd minute appeared to settle Barca and Ibrahimovic sidefooted home four minutes later to make it 3-1.
Real, who now have 86 points to Barca’s 87 with four games remaining, beat Real Zaragoza as playmaker Kaka struck eight minutes from time to fire Madrid to a nail-biting 2-1 victory.
Substitute Raul put Real ahead after 50 minutes and in a heated atmosphere at Zaragoza’s Romareda stadium the home side had Matteo Contini sent off after clash with Gonzalo Higuain.
Promoted Zaragoza fought back to level at 1-1 through Adrian Colunga in the 62nd minute before Kaka saved the day for Real.
