Argentine magician Lionel Messi led his team Barcelona to regain the top position in the Spanish football league, after scoring the only goal of the Catalan team during its clean goal victory over its guest Granada on Sunday at the end of the 20 stage of the competition.
And the balance of Barcelona - who made his first match under the leadership of his new coach Kiki Sittin - rose to 43 points in the lead, two goals ahead of his closest rivals and his traditional rivals Real Madrid, equal in the same balance.
In contrast, the balance of Granada, who received its ninth loss in the competition this season, and the third in its last four matches in the tournament, stood at 27 points in tenth place.
Although Barca scored the three points, he appeared influenced by the absence of his Uruguayan superstar Luis Suarez, who underwent knee surgery that will keep him out of the stadiums, possibly until the end of the current season.
Frenchman Antoine Griezmann and young player Enso Fati were unable to compensate for Suarez's absence in the match, in light of the good defensive positioning of Granada, who had to play with ten men after his player Jerman Sanchez was sent off in the 69th minute for receiving the second warning.
As usual, Messi starred in the meeting after scoring the only goal of the owners of the land (76).
Messi raised his goalscoring balance in the championship this season to 14 goals, to strengthen his lead in the competition's top scorer, by two goals against his closest French pursuit, Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema.
With this victory, Barcelona took revenge for the loss of two clean goals against Granada in the two teams match in the first leg of the competition, which took place at the Andalusian team stadium last September.