Deportivo: Aranzubia; Laure, Colotto, Lopo,
Manuel Pablo; Rubén Pérez, Antonio Tomás; Saúl
(Valerón 54'), Juan Domínguez (Pablo Alvarez 79'), Desmarets
(Rindaroy 70'); Adrián. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona:
Víctor Valdés; Adriano, Puyol, Piqué, Abidal; Iniesta
(Thiago 82'), Mascherano, Keita; Pedro (Afellay 82'), Messi, David Villa (Bojan
70'). 4-3-3.
Goals:
0-1. 22. Villa. Picked up Messi pass and squeezed
shot under keeper.
0-2. 51. Messi. Curled free kick around defensive wall
wide of Aranzubia.
0-3. 80. Iniesta. Cut in from right and fired angled
shot across keeper.
0-4. 81. Pedro. Ran on to Messi pass and lifted shot
past Aranzubia.
Yellow cards: Rubén Pérez 50'.
Barcelona beat Deportivo 0-4 on Saturday evening to move five points clear of Real Madrid pending their game on Sunday. Guardiola rested Xavi, Alves and Busquets, but even so they clocked up a comfortable ninth away win in a row, David Villa opening the scoring after Messi put him through midway through the first half. Abidal had a strike disallowed for a borderline offside a few minutes later, but six minutes in to the second half Messi made it two with a free kick which curled around the side of the defensive wall in to the top of the net. Depor's only efforts were a missed shot by Adrián and a long range shot from Rubén Pérez, and the visitors wrapped things up with two goals in a minute later on, Iniesta cutting in to beat Aranzubia and Messi passing through for Pedro to complete the scoring. Mission accomplished, and Iniesta, Messi and Xavi fly out to Zurich on Monday to see which of the three has been voted as Europe's "Balón d'Or" this year.