Barcelona
overcame the absence of prolific goalscorer Lionel Messi to beat bottom club
Malaga and open up an 11-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Messi, who
has scored 24 goals in 27 league games, withdrew from Saturday's match after
the birth of his third son.
Luis Suarez's header set Barca on
their way before Philippe Coutinho's sublime backheel doubled the lead.
Malaga played an hour with 10 men
after Samu Garcia was sent off for an awful challenge on Jordi Alba.
Barcelona's next match is at home to
Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League last-16 on Wednesday. The
first leg at Stamford Bridge ended 1-1.
Barca warm
up for Chelsea in style
Malaga were the last team to beat
Barcelona in the league on 8 April 2017.
Despite
Messi's absence, there was never any chance of a repeat once Suarez got on the
end of Alba's cross to score his 21st league goal of the season.
Former Tottenham midfielder Paulinho
should have doubled the lead but fired into the side netting before a wonderful
goal by Coutinho.
He used the back of his leg to flick
home Ousmane Dembele's ball inside the six yard area - Coutinho's third goal
since joining from Liverpool in January.
Barca's task was made easier by the
straight red card shown to Garcia.
Alba, who was on the end of Garcia's
reckless challenge, Dembele and Sergi Roberto were all replaced before the end.
Malaga are
11 points from safety in La Liga with just 10 games remaining.
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