Barcelona move back to top of La Liga with win over Malaga

Barcelona have moved back to the top of La Liga courtesy of a comfortable 3-0 win over Malaga.

Alexis Sanchez had an early chance for the hosts when he worked space to shoot from the edge of the box, but his effort clipped the outside of the post on its way behind.

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Malaga's first real chance of the match came just after the half-hour mark when Bartlomiej Pawlowski latched onto Duda's free kick, only for Victor Valdes to make a fine save from close range.

Jordi Alba then came close twice for Barca, first drawing a good save from Willy Caballero before seeing his second effort land on the roof of the net.

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Gerard Pique opened the scoring five minutes before half time when Malaga failed to deal with a corner, allowing the defender to smash the ball home from close range.

The hosts applied heavy pressure at the start of the second half and came within inches of adding to their lead when Pique hit the post with a header after Caballero had made two fine saves in quick succession.

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The second goal came shortly afterwards, however. Lionel Messi found Pedro who, in turn, found the bottom corner with a measured and curling effort.

Messi found Pedro again six minutes later, but this time the Spaniard rolled the ball across for Sanchez to convert from close range and secure all three points for his side.