Messi’s goal sends Barca to the top

Lionel Messi returned from injury to send Barcelona back to the top of La Liga as they won at Malaga.

Messi missed the midweek Copa Del Rey win at Athletic Bilbao with a hamstring problem, but came back to volley in Adriano's cross for the decisive goal.

Munir El Haddadi gave Barca the lead with a tap-in after 70 seconds.

Poor defending allowed Juanpi to equalise for Malaga, before Messi sent Barca a point clear of Atletico Madrid.

They were grateful that Messi recovered in time to help them at La Rosaleda, although they had to make do without Neymar, who suffered a hamstring injury of his own during the week.

His replacement, Munir, got Barcelona off to the perfect start after the industrious Luis Suarez had got to the byeline to pull the ball back.

Messi was relatively quiet for much of the first half, aside from one clear chance just before half-time, when Miguel Torres made a magnificent block to deny him after Carlos Kameni had saved from Munir. BBC