Barcelona have snapped a four-match winless run in Spain's La Liga with a 4-2 home victory over Sevilla to reclaim top spot although the triumph was marred by talisman Lionel Messi being forced off with an injured arm.
Messi was trying to reclaim the ball in the first half when he ran into the back of a defender, fell and bent his right elbow badly.
Concern: Lionel Messi suffered an elbow injury in the victory over Sevilla.Credit:AP
He was treated on the Camp Nou pitch on Saturday with doctors wrapping his elbow with bandages and he tried to continue, but he eventually left the field on 26 minutes. The club later confirmed he had fractured the radial bone in his arm and will be sidelined for around three weeks.
Messi scored the team's second goal with a shot from outside the area in the 12th minute after Philippe Coutinho had opened the scoring two minutes in.
Luis Suarez extended the lead on 63 minutes from the penalty spot.
Advertisement
Pablo Sarabia pulled a goal back on 79 minutes for the visitors before goals from Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic, against his former side, and Sevilla striker Luis Muriel rounded out the scoring.
Barcelona, on top with 18 points, next play on Wednesday against Inter Milan in the Champions League before they host Real Madrid in El Clasico next weekend.
Sevilla dropped to third on 16 points, trailing Alaves (17 points).
Meanwhile, Real Madrid fans ran out of patience at the Bernabeu after seeing their team suffer their worst scoring drought and lose for the fourth time in five matches.
They loudly jeered coach Julen Lopetegui and his players after Madrid reached a club-worst 481 minutes without finding the net in losing to Levante 2-1 to be fifth.
Lopetegui, only three months into his stint with Real Madrid, defended himself against the critics.
"Football matches are won by scoring goals and not according to who deserves to win," he said.
"We did what we needed to do because we had 34 or 35 shots on goals, 14 or 15 of which were on target.
"We had goals ruled out, hit the woodwork three times … we attacked a lot and looked dangerous.
"The stats aren't worth much at all, what counts are the goals. This is the way things go in football."
Levante took the lead after just seven minutes through Jose Luis Morales while things went from bad to worse for Real when Raphael Varane handled the ball just inside the area.
Pressure: Julen Lopetegui during the defeat to Levante.Credit:AP
Roger Marti stepped up to take the penalty sending it past Thibaut Courtois on 13 minutes.
Madrid had a Marco Asensio header ruled out by the video assistant referee soon after for offside before they halved the deficit in the second half when substitute Karim Benzema pulled the ball back to Marcelo and he smashed it into the roof of the net.
Mariano Diaz thought he had equalised late on but the goal was ruled out for offside leaving Levante to celebrate a famous victory.
Atletico Madrid are fourth after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Villarreal.
Filipe Luis put the visitors ahead in the second half before Mario Gaspar equalised.
Valencia couldn't manage more than 1-1 against struggling Leganes at home, to be winless for the fifth time in six matches.
Jose Gaya scored in the 85th minute to keep the hosts from losing after Gerard Gumbau put Leganes ahead with a second-half penalty kick.
AP
