Barcelona maintained their five point lead at the top of the table after beating Deportivo 1-3 on Saturday evening. A full strength Guardiola side dominated the first half, and went ahead when Messi drilled a low shot past Aranzubia after Alves set him up. Depor levelled the scores before the break with virtually their first effort on target, Valdés helping Adrián's header in to the net after Busquets could only head back Aranzubia's long clearance. But late in the second half Messi guided a header past the keeper from Pedro's cross, and with two minutes to go Ibrahimovic connected with a cross from Abidal to wrap things up. Earlier in the evening Real Madrid had closed the gap on their rivals after a 4-2 win over Almería. Sergio Ramos started things off with a header from Cristian Ronaldo's cross on the half hour mark, but slack defending allowed Soriano and Kalu Uche to turn the scoreline around in a three minute period in the second half. Higuaín squared the match once again though, and Benzema restored the lead after Alves saved a Ronaldo penalty. Ronaldo scored a fourth a couple of minutes later, but then got himself sent off after picking up two bookings near the end. (05.12.09)
