Messi magic sees Barça beat Sevilla

Lionel Messi continued his incredible scoring form as Barcelona beat Sevilla to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid. The forward scored a wonderful second goal, nutmegging a defender before chipping the goalkeeper, to take his tally to 14 in his last six games in all competitions. Xavi opened the scoring with a free-kick in the 15th minute as Barça won at a canter to close the gap provisionally on Madrid to seven points. This was Barcelona's first game since it was announced their defender Eric Abidal was to undergo a liver transplant and both teams wore t-shirts in support of the France international before the game. Despite the victory, coach Pep Guardiola conceded that they were not going to overturn Real's lead, who are currently seven points clear with a game in hand. "Forget the league, we are not going to win," said Guardiola. "If this team has anything then it is that it competes, but there has been another side which has been better and achieved better results than us and there is no need to smooth over the fact." Despite his black mood, Guardiola insisted that his team would keep going until the end. "Players at Barcelona go out to win. We have a very difficult tie in the next round of the Champions League (against AC Milan) but we are not going to hold back in the league and rest players," he said. Pedro went close for Barça in the 12th minute with a shot from the centre of the area which Andres Palop brilliantly tipped round the post. At the other end Ivan Rakitic's corner to the near post found Julien Escude, whose header went wide. The hosts went in front in the 16th minute, Xavi stepping up to fire a free-kick from the edge of the area into the top-left corner. The hosts were creating chances, though, and Manu brought a parry from Victor Valdes with a left-footed effort.