MADRID: Midfielder Cesc Fabregas moved Barcelona a step closer to the La Liga title with a late strike in a laboured 1-0 victory at home to mid-table Levante on Saturday.
The 84th-minute goal secured a win that took Barca to 84 points with six games left, 13 clear of champions Real Madrid who earlier beat Real Betis 3-1 with a Mesut Ozil double.
A victory away to Athletic Bilbao next Saturday, and a Real defeat at city rivals Atletico Madrid would enable Barca to be crowned champions for a fourth time in five years.
In the late game, Valencia’s push for a top-four finish was boosted with a 5-1 thrashing of Malaga at home when they scored four times in six first-half minutes.
Valencia climbed to fifth with 53 points, pushing Malaga to sixth on 50. Betis are seventh with 48 points.
The top two fielded weakened sides with next week’s Champions League semi-finals in mind.
Barca visit Bayern Munich for their first leg on Tuesday, and Real travel to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
Barcelona lined up with four fullbacks in defence, Eric Abidal making his first start in over a year since having a liver transplant and playing the full 90 minutes.
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi failed to make the squad as he recovers from a hamstring strain.
Barca substitute Alexis Sanchez helped break the deadlock six minutes from time, crossing from the right for Fabregas, who controlled the ball and fired low into the corner in a crowded area.
In Madrid, Real were without regulars such as Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and Sami Khedira and after a scrappy opening period were forced into an early change when Marcelo went down injured.
The left back was stret-chered off with a muscle in-jury after falling awkwardly.
A moment of Ozil inspira-tion broke the deadlock.
The Germany midfielder cut in off the right flank, exchanged passes with Karim Benzema on the edge of the area, and lifted a finish inside the near post just before the break.
A breakaway started by Ozil led to Ronaldo feeding Benzema to net the second in the 57th minute.
Midfielder Luka Modric was substituted with a muscle strain midway through the half and in the 71st minute Real youth-team defender Nacho brought down Ruben Castro for a penalty, with Jorge Molina scoring from the spot.
However, Real went straight down the other end and Ozil turned Jose Callejon’s deflected shot into the net from close range to seal the points.
Relegation-threatened Granada recovered to draw 1-1 at home to Real Vallado-lid, with Youssef El-Arabi’s header cancelling Patrick Ebert’s free kick. (Reuters)