Racing Santander 1 - Barcelona 2

Racing: Toño; Valera, Oriol, César Navas (Luccin 89'), Marcano; Colsa, Lacen; Munitis, Jonathan Pereira (Tchité 67'), Toni Moral (Sepsi 60'); Zigic. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Daniel Alves, Márquez, Piqué, Abidal; Xavi, Touré Yaya, Sergio Busquets (Messi 60'); Iniesta (Martín Cáceres 89'), Eto'o (Gudjohnsen 85'), Henry. 4-3-3.

Team changes: Racing: Toni Moral for Oscar Serrano / Barcelona: Márquez, Sergio Busquets for Puyol, Messi.

Goals:
1-0. 56. Zigic (penalty). After Márquez tripped Jonathan Pereira inside area.
1-1. 65. Messi. Steered shot back in to net after Xavi header came off crossbar.
1-2. 81. Messi. Controlled high ball on chest and fired angled shot wide of Toño.

Yellow cards: Munitis 22', Márquez 54', 87', Dani Alves 76', Piqué 93', 93' / red cards: Márquez 87', Piqué 93'.

Leaders Barcelona kept up the twelve point gap over Real Madrid, although they left it late before beating Racing Santander 1-2. Both sides had chances in the first half, Márquez firing a free kick over the top and Valdés having to tip a shot from Pereira around the post. Zigic headed a good chance wide shortly before the break, but soon after the restart the striker put the Cantabrians ahead from the penalty spot after Márquez had tripped Pereira in the area.

Guardiola turned to Messi, who he had been saving for the upcoming cup semi-final, and within a couple of minutes he had equalised after Xavi's header came back off the bar. And with ten minutes to go Messi collected a high ball on his chest and struck an angled shot past Toño for his side's 5,000th goal in the league. Márquez and Piqué were both sent off in the final minutes after picking up bookings for fouls on substitute Tchité, but the game ended soon afterwards.