Barca Wait on Messi Injury

Lionel Messi is a doubt for Barcelona's Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday after he was injured in the early stages of Saturday's La Liga clash with Las Palmas.

Messi, who was captaining Barca with Andres Iniesta on the bench, asked to be substituted in the eighth minute after hurting his left knee in the Nou Camp contest.

The Argentina star went down after a clash of legs with Daniel Castellano in the third minute.

Following medical attention, he went back on, but two minutes later asked to be replaced with Munir El Haddadi coming on.

Barca later revealed Messi had been taken to hospital for tests.

Barcelona went on to win 2-1 as they bounced back from their 4-1 mauling by Celta Vigo on Wednesday.

Luis Suarez scored both goals against newly-promoted Las Palmas, netting in the 25th and 54th minutes.

Neymar also missed a penalty in the 66th minute before Las Palmas forward Jonathan Viera replied in the 88th.

Reports suggest Messi might be out of action for up to two months.

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Real Move Clear In La Liga

Cristiano Ronaldo rounded off a week where he was named world player of the year for the third time scoring a double as Real Madrid opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-0 win away to Getafe.

The visitors had to wait 63 minutes to make the breakthrough before he fired home Karim Benzema's pass to set them on the road to victory.

Gareth Bale then doubled the visitors' lead before Ronaldo rounded off the scoring with a trademark header from James Rodriguez's cross.

Barcelona can cut Madrid's lead back to a solitary point when they travel to Deportivo la Coruna later today.

Perhaps suffering from the after effects of their Copa del Rey elimination to Atletico Madrid in midweek Madrid started sluggishly, but were rarely threatened by a goal-shy Getafe.

The European champions finally started to get going after 20 minutes as Marcelo drove a fierce effort just over on his weaker right foot before Benzema was denied by Jordi Codina.

Isco then tested the Getafe 'keeper with a piledriver from the edge of the box which Codina did well to turn over and Toni Kroos came even closer a minute before the break when he rattled the crossbar from long range.

Codina continued to frustrate Madrid at the start of the second period with good saves from Benzema and James Rodriguez.

However, his resistence was finally broken just before the hour mark with a brilliant team goal as Isco and Rodriguez combined to free Benzema and the Frenchman produced an exquisite piece of skill on the byline to cut the ball back for Ronaldo to slam home.

Just four minutes later it was 2-0 as this time Rodriguez was the provider with a fine low cross that Bale prodded past Codina with the outside of his left foot.

The winning margin could even have been greater for Ancelotti's men as Ronaldo outfoxed Codina with a free-kick that whistled inches past the post with the 'keeper beaten.

Ronaldo wasn't to be denied his second of the afternoon 11 minutes from time, though, as another sumptuous cross from Rodriguez allowed the Portuguese to plant a firm header past the helpless Codina to register his 36th goal of the season.

Getafe failed to force Iker Casillas into a single save, but did come within inches of a consolation goal when Alvaro Vazquez fired against the post from Alex Felip's low cross late on.

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Manuel Preciado Rebolledo 1957 - 2012

Villarreal have confirmed coach Manuel Preciado has died of a heart attack just a day after he was named the club's new boss.

Preciado was sacked by Sporting Gijon in January after five-and-a-half years in charge, but had been handed the task of leading Villarreal back into La Liga this week.

He was due to be presented to the media at El Madrigal on Friday, but Villarreal released a statement to announce that Preciado had passed away at the age of 54.

Villarreal said in a statement on Thursday morning: "The coach Manuel Preciado died overnight in Valencia as a result of a heart attack.

"The Cantabrian, who had been chosen by Villarreal to lead next season's project, was 54 years old.

"Villarreal want to express their deepest sorrow at the sad loss and want to offer their condolences to his family and all his relatives."

During his playing career, Preciado was a defender for the likes of Racing Santander, Linares and Alaves before he retired in the early 1990s.

Preciado also had two spells as a coach of Racing, while Gimnastica and Levante were among his other clubs before he took over at Sporting in 2006.

He had kept Sporting in the top flight in recent seasons before his departure earlier this year and Villarreal were hoping he could work his promotion magic with them.

Villarreal had previously dismissed Jose Molina in March and his replacement Miguel Angel Lotina was unable to prevent relegation from La Liga.

The Yellow Submarines finished fourth in the 2010/11 Primera Division season and reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2006, and the Europa League semi-finals in 2011.

Guardiola Awaits Copa del Rey

The Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola bowed out of La Liga by insisting: life goes on. Guardiola's last league game in charge of the Catalan side following a four-year spell in which the club have won three league titles and two Champions League crowns ended in a 2-2 draw at Real Betis last night.

"La Liga existed before I came and it will continue to exist without me," said Guardiola, whose final game in charge will be the Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao on 25 May.

Barça's Dani Alves was sent off against Betis and the Brazilian full-back has been linked with a move away from Camp Nou. But Guardiola feels the club need to keep hold of him, adding: "Questions on a player's future don't depend on me, but from my point of view, Alves is irreplaceable. He's been fundamental for Barça."

The goalkeeper Victor Valdés is confident the team will be back to their best next year under their new manager Tito Vilanova after a season in which they have lost their league and Champions League crowns.

He said: "We hope to win the cup. This season two important titles have slipped away, but we'll be back as strong as ever next year."

The defender Carles Puyol can continue to play an important role for Barça next term after undergoing knee surgery on Saturday, according to the doctors who performed the operation. The Spain international had an "arthroscopic procedure to clean up joint tissue in his right knee" and will be out for six weeks, the club confirmed, ruling him out of Euro 2012.

His doctor Ricard Pruna said: "Puyol's objective is to be in optimal condition for the pre-season."

Doctor Ramon Cugat added: "If everything goes well, we'll have Carles Puyol for many years."

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Messi Makes it Number Fifty

Lionel Messi scored four times to take his season tally to an unprecedented 72 goals and give Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola a 4-0 win over crosstown rival Espanyol in his last home game at Camp Nou on Saturday.....