Sub Xavi snatches win for Barcelona

MADRID, Spain -- Spanish international Xavi proved to be Barcelona's super sub when he came on and scored an 88th minute winner against Osasuna, which reduced Real Madrid's lead at the top of the Primera Liga to six points.

After Real's shock 2-0 defeat to Almeria on Saturday Barca were all set to strengthen their title challenge, but they were frustrated for most of the match against Osasuna.

Xavi was introduced after 82 minutes with the the game still goalless and showed great skill to conjure the goal which sparked wild celebrations.

The damp pitch posed problems but Barcelona created opportunities and Lionel Messi and the 17-year-old Bojan Krkic, called up into the Spain squad for the first time, both went close.

Osasuna defended stoutly and Messi made way for Ronaldinho with 20 minutes left.

However, the introduction of Xavi was the turning point.

"This victory is great for our morale," said Barca coach Frank Rijkaard.

"I am not looking at (Real) Madrid too much to be honest. They have the advantage and are the best at the moment but I am not focusing on them."

"The rhythm of this game was constantly interrupted and a lot of time was wasted which made it difficult but we created a lot of goalscoring chances and we had a really good attitude."

Valencia's 2-0 triumph at Valladolid ended a run of nine league games without victory.

Goals from Mata and David Villa lifted the club, who reached the cup semifinals in midweek, two places to ninth.

Coach Ronald Koeman said:"We know what it is like to suffer but now we have won we can relax a bit and concentrate on collecting more points."

It was a first win since mid-November and welcome relief for Koeman, who has only been in the job three months, but heard fans calling for him to be sacked after last weekend's 1-0 home defeat by Almeria.

Atletico Madrid were held 1-1 at home by Real Murcia. Atletico, who have gathered a solitary point from the last nine, fell behind to a Jofre penalty and needed an equalizer from Luis Garcia to draw.

Atletico coach Javier Aguirre would not accept fatigue as an excuse for their display.

"Big teams have to learn how to play Sunday, Wednesday and then the following Sunday," said Aguirre.

Third-placed Villarreal also dropped points with a 1-1 draw against Real Mallorca.

Villarreal went ahead when Guiseppe Rossi scored his 10th of the season from the penalty spot on 26 minutes but Aggelos Basinas equalized.

Sevilla were the big winners of the day with Brazilian Luis Fabiano scoring twice in a 2-1 win over Recreativo.

It was only Sevilla's second away win of the season and even more impressive as they had to play half the match with ten men after Aquivaldo Mosquera was sent off for collecting two bookings inside sixty seconds.

Espanyol moved up to third in the table, level on 39 points with Villarreal, after winning 1-0 at Getafe. Jonathan Soriano was on target after 17 minutes. E-mail to a friend