Football: Prolific pair deny Alaves to keep Barca flying high

Andre Iniesta set up Luis Suarez for Barcelona's equaliser. Photo / AP

Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi came to the rescue again by scoring late as Spanish league leader Barcelona rallied against relegation-wary Alaves with a 2-1 win at Camp Nou Stadium yesterday.

The win kept Barcelona 11 points in front of Atletico Madrid, who earlier defeated Las Palmas 3-0 at home.

Sitting just outside the relegation zone, Alaves surprisingly went ahead with forward John Guidetti scoring midway through the first half. Suarez evened the score with a volley in the 72nd minute after a cross by Andre Iniesta and Messi netted the winner with a free-kick in the 84th.

Suarez and Messi have combined to score at least a goal each in seven of Barcelona's last eight matches. Messi is the league's top scorer with 20 goals, followed by Suarez with 16.

Philippe Coutinho made his debut as a starter, being replaced in the second half.

Atletico Madrid ended their three-match winless streak by beating Las Palmas with second-half goals by Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and substitute Thomas Partey.

Atletico opened a six-point gap to third-place Valencia, who lost at home to Real Madrid on Sunday. Real Madrid are fourth, two points behind Valencia with a game in hand.

Leganes kept up their momentum after a shock 2-1 win at Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey by defeating Espanyol 3-2 at home.

● Runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich have hit back after falling two goals behind in 12 minutes to hammer Hoffenheim 5-2 and stay on course for a sixth successive league title.

Borussia Dortmund snatched a last-gasp 2-all draw at home to Freiburg after Nils Petersen's outrageous lob almost gave the Black Forest side a famous win, while lowly Hamburg held Leipzig 1-all in their first game under Bernd Hollerbach.

Hoffenheim threatened to hand Bayern their first home league defeat of the season as they made a flying start at the Allianz Arena.

But it turned out to be a false alarm for the Bavarians who were level before the half-hour mark as Robert Lewandowksi and Jerome Boateng found the net.

Bayern, who have 50 points from 20 games and a 16-point lead over Schalke, cruised home with second half goals from Kingsley Coman, Arturo Vidal and Sandro Wagner.

Jamaican Leon Bailey and Brazilian defender Wendell scored to help Bayer Leverkusen reclaim second place from Schalke with a 2-0 win over Mainz.

Schalke won 2-0 at VfB Stuttgart with goals in the first 20 minutes from Naldo and Amine Harit, from a penalty. Bottom club Cologne were held 1-all at home by Augsburg.

• In Serie A, Dries Mertens scored twice, including a stunning second-half strike, to help Napoli rally to beat Bologna 3-1 yesterday and move back to the top of the league.

It took Mertens' tally to 13 Serie A goals but the Belgium international hadn't scored in the league since October before breaking his drought last week.

Napoli moved a point above Juventus, who won 2-0 at Chievo Verona on Sunday. Third-placed Lazio lost 2-1 at AC Milan, while Sampdoria had a 1-0 win at Roma.

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- Agencies