Barcelona’s Lionel Messi came off the bench to help the La Liga leaders battle back from 4-2 down in stoppage time to snatch a 4-4 draw at relegation-threatened Villarreal. Barça avoided a first league defeat since November thanks to a last-gasp Luis Suárez strike after Messi gave them hope with a superb free-kick in the 90th minute.
The draw resulted in Barça’s lead over Atletico Madrid, who had earlier won 2-0 at home to lowly Girona, being trimmed to eight points before Saturday’s showdown at the Nou Camp.
Even without Messi, Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic in their starting lineup, Barça still strolled into the lead through Philippe Coutinho in the 12th minute, which the Brazilian forward Malcom soon doubled with a header.
Villarreal, who began the game hovering one point above the relegation zone, hauled themselves into contention with a strike from 19-year-old Samuel Chukwueze midway through the first half.
Cameroon striker Karl Toko Ekambi took advantage of slack positioning from Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen to equalise soon after the interval and Vicente Iborra completed the home side’s revival just after the hour mark.
Messi came off the bench but Villarreal increased their lead with a strike from their substitute Carlos Bacca.
Álvaro González was then dismissed for Villarreal for a second booking with four minutes remaining, paving the way for Messi and Suárez to strike for Barça and produce a remarkable finish to an enthralling contest.
In Serie A, Juventus’ teenage forward Moise Kean was subjected to racist abuse by Cagliari fans but sealed victory five minutes from time as the leaders won away 2-0.
After scoring, Kean – who was born in Italy to Ivorian parents – turned to the home fans and folded his arms. In response, Cagliari’s supporters made the noise which is described by Italian media as “buu” and is regarded as a racist insult in Italian football. Monkey noises could also be clearly heard among the crowd.
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Juve’s midfielder Blaise Matuidi protested furiously to the referee and at one point appeared to threaten to walk off. The Frenchman complained last year that he was subject to racist abuse at the same stadium and Cagliari later apologised. Play was halted for around three minutes and a warning was broadcast to the crowd – the first step in the so-called three-step procedure which ultimately leads to the teams being led off the field.
Yet Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci criticised Kean, his 19-year-old teammate, for his reaction. According to Football Italia, the defender said: “Kean knows that when he scores a goal, he has to focus on celebrating with his teammates. He knows he could’ve done something differently too.
“There were racist jeers after the goal, Blaise [Matuidi] heard it and was angered. I think the blame is 50-50, because Moise shouldn’t have done that and the Curva should not have reacted that way. We are professionals, we have to set the example and not provoke anyone.”
Defender Bonucci had opened the scoring with a towering header from a corner in the 22nd minute. With five minutes remaining Kean – who had already had a couple of chances saved by Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno – sidefooted home a cross from Rodrigo Bentancu.
The win took Juventus to 81 points from 30 games, 18 points ahead of second-placed Napoli, who play Empoli on Wednesday. Juve were again without Cristiano Ronaldo who is recovering from a thigh injury he suffered playing for Portugal a week ago.
Back in La Liga, Atlético Madrid left it late to see off Girona 2-0 at home as strikes from Diego Godín and Antoine Griezmann kept up their faint hopes of catching Barcelona.
Godín broke the deadlock in the 76th minute with the help of the VAR after the goal had been initially ruled out for offside against Griezmann.
The ruling gave Atlético a lead they barely deserved and France striker Griezmann sealed victory deep in added time with a well-taken finish on the counterattack, ending a spell of seven games in all competitions without a goal for his club.
In Tuesday’s other Serie A game Udinese held Milan to a 1-1 draw at San Siro, equalising on the counter from an opposition corner to hand another setback to Gennaro Gattuso’s side, who missed the chance to go third in the table.
Milan remain fourth but have taken one point from their last nine and have Lazio lurking four points behind with two games in hand.
They struggled to create chances, but despite losing goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and midfielder Lucas Paquetá to injury in the first half, they went ahead in the 44th minute. Patrick Cutrone’s cross was met by Piatek whose first shot was saved at point-blank range by Juan Musso but the Poland international headed in the rebound.
Midway through the second half, a Milan corner was missed by keeper Musso but Nicholas Opoku cleared the ball off the line and started a lethal counter. The ball was swept out to Seko Fofana on the left and he squared to Kevin Lasagna who fired past Pepe Reina.