Barca beat Betis and remain on top : picture gallery

Barca beat Betis and remain on top : picture gallery

FC Barcelona held nerves to win 2-0 to Betis and retain their lead at the top of the Liga table.

Barca beat Betis and remain on top : picture gallery

Second half goals from Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez on Saturday mean Barca remain ahead of Atletico Madrid on goal difference and a point up on Real Madrid.

Barca struggled in the first half against a well-organised and hard-working Betis. But their cause was eventually helped after 36 minutes when Betis defender Heiko Westerman was sent off for two legal yellow cards.

Rakitic opened the scoring card in the 49th minute after a mix up involving the Betis keeper Antonio Adan, who earlier in the week had said that he hoped he could help his former club, Real Madrid win the trophy.

Adan came out for an easy ball and missed it completely to leave Rakitic with a tap in.

Barca controlled the ball as Betis tired, but missed many chances. Finally Messi set up Suarez for the second goal nine minutes from time.

The Argentinean seemed to have waited too long but then picked up the striker with a stunning pass . It split the home defense for Suarez to net his 35th league goal of the campaign.

Victories against Espanyol and Granada in the final two rounds will comfortably secure Barcelona its second consecutive title, after Barca beat Betis last night. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have now 85 points each, with the Catalan club ahead on the head-to-head tally. Real Madrid is one point behind with just two rounds to go.

“We keep winning and we still only depend on ourselves,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “We never said it was going to be easy. We have to focus on these last two games. We are closer and closer to the Spanish league title.”