BARCELONA — Lionel Messi netted his eighth brace of the season and created a third goal to steer Barcelona to a 3-1 win over a feisty Real Zaragoza Saturday as the Spanish league leader kept alive its club-record start. Unbeaten Barcelona's 11th victory in 12 rounds maintained its eight-point lead over Real Madrid after the defending champion thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-1 ahead of its critical Champions League trip to Manchester City. Messi started the scoring at Camp Nou Stadium in the 16th. After Zaragoza leveled through Paco Montanes in the 24th, Messi assisted Alex Song four minutes later to re-establish Barcelona's advantage for good before adding a third goal in the 60th. Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova recovered Carles Puyol for his defense with the center back seeing his first action since dislocating his elbow on Oct. 2, while Song started as its holding midfielder in place of suspended Sergio Busquets. After missing a clear chance early, Messi got the host going by slotting a left-footed shot just inside the post to finish off a move he started by playing Jordi Alba wide before sliding forward to receive the left back's return pass. Zaragoza pushed forward in search of the equalizer that came from Montanes when he fired in a loose ball after a corner kick. The visitors' elation lasted four minutes before Song scored his first goal for Barcelona since joining from Arsenal this offseason, slicing Messi's back pass through a crowded box to find the net. Behind again, Zaragoza still succeeded in winning its share of possession and strung together attacks that tested Barcelona's defense before Messi decided the contest when he curled an unstoppable long-range strike off the lower part of the upright. Bilbao entered Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with the third-worst defense in the league, having allowed 21 goals, and only a strong performance by goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz saved it from a historic rout. Madrid jumped in front in the 16th when defender Jon Aurtenetxe scored an own goal when trying to stop Karim Benzema from shooting after the France striker latched onto Luka Modric's long pass from deep in his own half. Sergio Ramos headed in Madrid's second goal at the half-hour mark off when Bilbao left him unmarked to meet Mesut Oezil's free kick. Benzema, just back from injury, struck two minutes later, spinning inside the area and swerving a superb shot around Iraizoz before Bilbao midfielder Ibai Gomez pulled one back three minutes from halftime. Benzema crossed for the wide-open Oezil to tap home in the 56th with Bilbao caught totally off-balance. Substitute Sami Khedira also came back from injury in fine form for Madrid with a goal in the 72nd. Earlier, Roberto Soldado's 90th-minute penalty gave Valencia a 2-1 win over Espanyol, which finished with nine men and slid into last place. Malaga was held to 0-0 at struggling Osasuna as the Costa del Sol side's winless streak reached four matches. — AP
