Barca go five clear with Xerez win

Barcelona and their new Ballon D’Or victor Lionel Messi moved five points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish league with goals from Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic sealing a 2-0 win at Xerez on Wednesday.

Barca built on their 1-0 win over foes Real in Sunday’s ‘Clasico’ and piled more pressure on their rivals in a rearranged league fixture to accommodate their participation in the FIFA World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi in mid-December.

France international Henry headed the opener 58 seconds into the second half before substitute Ibrahimovic scored his ninth goal of the season with a delightful chip in the final minute.

Messi, basking in lifting the Ballon D’Or 24 hours ago, came on as a substitute and hit the post before setting up Ibrahimovic’s goal.

Champions Barca are also in league action this Saturday at Deportivo La Coruna while Real host Almeria.

The Xerez game had been brought forward due to Barca’s participation in the FIFA World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi and coach Pep Guardiola rang the changes with Ballon D’Or winner Messi, who won the award on Tuesday at a canter, starting on the substitutes’ bench.

Messi was joined by first teamers Andres Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique and captain Carles Puyol while Sergi Busquets was suspended following his stupid dismissal against Real.

Nevertheless there was enough quality on show with Thierry Henry, Dani Alves and Xavi, voted third in the Ballon d’Or, to test a Xerez side that had been thrashed 5-1 by Getafe last time out to leave them rooted to the bottom of the table.

With key inventive players missing Barcelona struggled to create chances and it was not until the 25th minute that they looked like scoring with Frenchman Henry shooting over the bar from an acute angle.

Two set-pieces provided the best first half opportunities with Cote D’Ivoire midfielder Yaya Toure, who recently expressed his disappointment at not being in the first team, wasting a golden chance as the ball ricocheted off his chest to goalkeeper Renan Brito.

Barca had drawn their last three league matches but Guardiola didn’t panic with the score 0-0 at the interval and 59 seconds into the second half the breakthrough came.

Brazilian left back Maxwell broke down the flank and stood a cross up for Henry to glance a header in off the underside of the crossbar.

It was Henry’s first goal since his controversial handball helped France eliminate Ireland in the World Cup play-off and he celebrated wildly.

Xerez were frustrated at conceding so early and then had to deal with the sight of Messi warming up on the touchline.

Messi replaced Pedro Rodriguez on 55 minutes to give Barca more trickery going forward but Xerez recovered well from the goal setback and a fantastic counter attack almost provided the equaliser just after the hour mark but a poor touch from striker Mario Bermejo saw the move break down.

Xerez had only scored four goals in the league but were looking threatening and Guardiola threw on Ibrahimovic – the hero against Real with his winning volley – for Bojan Krkic.

Messi showed why his regarded as the best player on the planet with a great run and back heel to wow the crowd and set up Alves but the Brazilian’s cross was scrambled to safety.

Messi hit the post late on and Iniesta missed an unbelievable chance but they didn’t prove costly for the champions as Ibrahimovic chipped in a late second.