Barcelona's Carles Puyol (R) vies for the ball against Racing Santander's goalkeeper Mario Fernandez (L) in Santander, Spain, Sunday. — AP BARCELONA — Lionel Messi scored his 49th and 50th goals of the season to lead Barcelona to a 2-0 win at Racing Santander in the Spanish league Sunday. Four days after scoring a Champions League-record five goals in Barcelona's 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen, Messi reached the 50-goal mark for the second straight season and closed to within five of matching Cesar Rodriguez's all-time club record of 235. Barcelona' fourth straight victory kept it 10 points behind runaway leader Real Madrid, but with 12 rounds to play the defending champion's chances of catching its fierce rival are dwindling. Messi broke through Racing's 10-man defense in the 29th minute, and the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year added a penalty in the 56th as Barcelona enjoyed a rare easy win away from Camp Nou. Racing coach Alvaro Cervera, who was hired Friday, could do little but watch as Barcelona easily kept the relegation-threatened side winless for an eighth straight week. Barcelona hardly missed the injured David Villa and Alexis Sanchez, with the trio of Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta proving to be too much for Racing. With the double, Messi has scored 16 goals in his past six matches for Barcelona and Argentina. He had 53 goals in 55 matches for his club last season. Messi already has 50 in 43 matches so far this campaign. Also Sunday, it was: Atletico Madrid 2, Granada 0; Espanyol 5, Rayo Vallecano 1; and Valencia 2, Mallorca 2. On Saturday, Madrid beat Real Betis 3-2 for a club-record 10th straight away win. Also, it was: Real Sociedad 3, Zaragoza 0; Malaga 1, Levante 0 and Sporting Gijon 1, Sevilla 0.
