Barcelona put pressure on La Liga leaders Real Madrid by picking up their first win in four games as two second-half strikes from Lionel Messi and one from Luis Suarez secured a 3-0 win at struggling Osasuna yesterday.

The Spanish champions missed a slew of chances in a dominant first-half display but their class eventually shone through when Suarez tapped Jordi Alba’s cutback into an empty net in the 52nd minute to break the deadlock.

Messi sealed the points in the 72nd by finishing off another pass from Alba and in stoppage time the Argentine wizard toyed with the Osasuna defence to grab the third and move ahead of Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo as the league’s top scorer with 11 goals.

Barcelona stay second in the league standings, six points behind Real Madrid who came from a goal down to beat De-portivo La Coruna 3-2 last night and set a club record of 35 games unbeaten in all competitions.

“We had a lot of chances against Osasuna and we knew that as soon as we got ahead it would open up. Fortunately, we were able to see out the game,” Suarez told reporters after the match.

“We can’t give up the fight... we’re Barcelona and we’re always among the title candidates, we won’t give up whether we’re three, six or seven points behind.”

Primera Liga

Played yesterday
Osasuna vs Barcelona - 0-3
Real Sociedad vs Valencia - 3-2
Las Palmas vs Leganes - 1-1
Real Madrid vs Deportivo - 3-2

Today
Eibar vs Alaves - 12.00
Celta Vigo vs Sevilla - 16.15
Espanyol vs Sporting Gijon - 18.30
Real Betis vs Athletic Bilbao - 20.45

Tomorrow
Villarreal vs Atletico Madrid - 20.45

Leading standings: Real Madrid 37; Barcelona 31; Sevilla 27; Real Sociedad 26; Atletico Madrid 25; Villarreal, A. Bilbao 23; Las Palmas, Malaga 21.