Barcelona defeats Leganes 2-0

Barcelona was far from its best and could have gone behind on two occasions before 17-year-old Fati put it ahead in the 43rd minute. The youngster fired through the legs of a defender and into the bottom corner for his fifth league goal of the season.

Messi doubled Quique Setien’s side’s advantage from the penalty spot in the 69th minute, almost immediately after Antoine Griezmann had a goal ruled out for offside following a VAR review. It was Messi’s 56th converted penalty in La Liga and the strike saw him draw level with Hugo Sanchez as the league’s second-top penalty taker, behind record holder Cristiano Ronaldo on 61.

“It is important to keep winning although we need to play with more speed than we did. We have got six points (since the restart) and we are going to get better in each game,” said Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic. “All teams have a lot at stake at this stage, so we expected a tough game. Leganes made it difficult for us to find space and committed a few fouls, but things got easier as the game went on.”

In other matches, Villarreal pipped Mallorca 1-0, with Getafe and Espanyol playing out a goalless stalemate.

Champions League to be completed in Lisbon
This season’s Champions League, suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be completed with an eight-team minitournament that will be held in Lisbon in August, European football’s governing body UEFA said on Wednesday.

The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be staged over one leg, instead of the usual two, with the final to be held on August 23. The four last-16 second leg matches which still have to be played — Manchester City v Real Madrid, Bayern Munich v Chelsea, Juventus v Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona v Napoli — will take place on August 7 or 8, either at the originally scheduled venues or in Portugal.

Paris St Germain, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta and RB Leipzig have already qualified for the quarter-finals. Istanbul, which was due to host the 2020 final, will now instead be the venue for the 2021 edition, with all other scheduled hosts moving back a year, UEFA said.