Lionel Messi rescued stumbling Barcelona with a late winner against Malaga last night. Barca had temporarily been knocked off the summit following Real Madrid's 5-1 win over Tenerife earlier in the evening, but the champions reclaimed pole position after making it 11 wins from 12 league games at the Nou Camp this season.

Pep Guardiola's side, who have struggled for top form in recent weeks, had to bide their time to break down Malaga though despite dominating most of the match.

Pedro Rodriguez was the man to end the deadlock in the 69th minute but it would be Messi who was the match-winner with his 84th-minute tap-in coming after Malaga had shocked their hosts by drawing level through substitute Valmiro Valdo.

Guardiola said, "We did not change our system.

"We made some small changes. But the structure is the same.

"The important thing is that we played very well, with excellent possession and control of the ball. It was one of our better home games.

"We were far better than our last games."