Keita goal puts Barcelona in commanding position

Seydou Keita is congratulated on his goal for Barcelona

A goal from Seydou Keita helped Barcelona to stretch their lead at the top of the Spanish Liga to 10 points on Saturday with a comfortable 1-0 home defeat of lowly Zaragoza.

Zaragoza actually seemed relieved to escape without a thrashing, and Barca were relieved to have a relaxed game ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League showdown against Arsenal.

Astonishingly, Barca have dropped just seven points all season, and are on course to break all records. They now have 74 points from 27 games, 10 more than Real Madrid.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola had been in hospital for two days with a slipped disc but managed to sit on the bench, in obvious pain. He was rewarded with an efficient rather than sparkling display, against visitors who defended in depth and rarely crossed the halfway line.

Guardiola sent his assistant, Tito Vilanova, to the post-match press conference, and the latter said: “We are in good form and our results show this. We were able to rest several players (ahead of the Arsenal match) and we will be in good shape (on Tuesday).” As expected, the game was a monologue from start to finish.

But the Mali midfielder was not to be denied. He scored the only goal two minutes from time from close range, after Lionel Messi had opened up the Zaragoza defence down the right and put over a clever centre.