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Lionel Messi set up Luis Suarez's first-minute opener and then notched his 400th goal for Barcelona to give his side a hard-fought 2-0 win over Valencia on Saturday. The 27-year-old Argentine is the all-time leading scorer for both Barcelona and La Liga. His 400th goal in his 471st match in all competitions for the Catalan club was also his 278th goal in the league. Suarez netted his 12th goal in his last 12 appearances as Barcelona went ahead just 55 seconds into the match at Camp Nou. But Valencia dominated the rest of the first half and the hosts needed goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to save Dani Parejo's penalty in the 10th minute. Valencia striker Paco Alcacer went close several times before Barcelona settled down after half-time, and Messi sealed the win in stoppage time right before the final whistle. The victory kept Barcelona two points clear of second-placed Real Madrid. Valencia's first loss in 11 games left them in fourth place. Cristiano Ronaldo made up for a missed penalty by scoring his 50th goal of the season in stoppage time in Real Madrid's 3-1 home win over Malaga. Both Gareth Bale and Luka Modric left the game with injuries, just four days before Real Madrid host Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal second leg. Saturday's game was far from comfortable for the title hopefuls, who also got goals from Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez. Ronaldo cancelled out a reply from Juanmi. Ronaldo's strike saw him bring up 50 goals in all competitions for the fifth successive year, although he should have reached the milestone earlier than stoppage time having seen his 67th-minute penalty come back off the post when the score was still 1-0. Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann struck a brace as the defending champions strengthened their hold on third place with a 2-1 victory at Deportivo La Coruna. Griezmann struck with a scissor kick to put Atletico ahead in the fifth minute and added his 20th league goal in the 22nd. Atletico coach Diego Simeone was dismissed just before half-time, apparently for complaining to the officials, and watched the second half from a box in the stands. Deportivo came alive only after Oriol Riera scored with a header in the 78th, but Atletico held on to the three points. In the late game, Athletic Bilbao won for the first time in four matches with a 4-0 home win over 10-man Getafe. Aritz Aduriz scored from the penalty spot right at the end of the first half to put Athletic ahead in an incident that saw Emiliano Velazquez sent off, and the striker doubled his side's lead moments after the restart. Ibai Gomez and Markel Susaeta then added late goals to complete a convincing triumph for the Basque giants, who move up to eighth. Information from The Associated Press and Press Association was used in this report.
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