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Barcelona's Lionel Messi, left, controls the ball during a Spanish La Liga soccer match against Espanyol at the Camp Nou stadium on March 30 in Barcelona, Spain. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
Madrid, March 31 (PTI/AFP): Lionel Messi continued his remarkable run of form as his second-half double, including an impudent free-kick, helped Barcelona continue their march towards the La Liga title with a 2-0 win over Espanyol.
The visitors gave their city rivals a tough game at the Camp Nou, but Messi's chipped free-kick over the wall from 19 yards and a late second kept the reigning champions 10 points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid, who thrashed Alaves 4-0.
Messi has now netted eight times in his last four games for Barca, and leads the way in the La Liga scoring charts with 31 goals, 13 ahead of teammate Luis Suarez.
"I had no idea he would hit (the free-kick) like that," said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde.
"I would love to say that we had planned it, but it's not true, it's up to him. He didn't need my opinion and he scored."
It was a fitting way for the Argentinian to mark his 675th Barcelona appearance, which moved him ahead of Andres Iniesta into second on the club's all-time list -- 102 adrift of Xavi Hernandez.
He made a low-key return to international action in midweek as Argentina lost a friendly to Venezuela, but Valverde was delighted it did not affect Messi on Saturday.
"Messi is the same player no matter what team he is playing in," he said. "He would be the same if he played in Australia... We are delighted to have him, it's a luxury for me to coach him."
Barca struggled to break down Espanyol early on, with Messi, Suarez and Ivan Rakitic all wasting half-chances in the first period.
Barcelona saw a penalty appeal waved away by both the referee and VAR on the stroke of half-time, and Malcom was denied just after the hour mark by away goalkeeper Diego Lopez as the Catalan giants grew frustrated.
But Messi has been consistently unplayable this season, and he dinked in a wonderful effort from a set-piece despite Victor Sanchez's best efforts to clear off the line.
The three points were sealed in the 89th minute as Malcom ran clear on the breakaway, before cutting the ball across for Messi to sweep a trademark finish low into the bottom corner.
Barcelona next visit Villarreal on Tuesday with a second successive title looking even more like a mere formality after a sixth straight victory extended their unbeaten league run to 17 matches.
Atletico at least did not give up further ground to Barcelona as Diego Costa scored for the first time since November in an impressive win at fifth-placed Alaves.
The Spanish international has struggled for form and fitness this season, but grabbed his second league goal of the campaign with a magnificent 11th-minute strike from the edge of the area, six minutes after Saul Niguez had put Atletico in front.
Costa was replaced by Thomas Lemar at half-time, but the Frenchman sent Alvaro Morata through on goal to put the game to bed just before the hour mark.
The on-loan Chelsea striker has now scored four goals since joining Diego Simeone's men in January.
Thomas Partey added extra gloss to the scoreline late on with a fine 20-yard strike into the top corner.
Earlier on Saturday, fourth-placed Getafe missed the chance to solidify their spot in the Champions League places as they slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Leganes.
Uruguayan Michael Santos and Spaniard Juanfran scored in the second half for Leganes to leave Getafe just two points ahead of Alaves, with Valencia and Sevilla both also within six points with a game in hand.
Celta Vigo gave their survival hopes a massive boost as Iago Aspas scored twice in a dramatic comeback from two goals down to beat fellow strugglers Villarreal 3-2 and move within a point of their 17th-placed opponents and safety.