Cesc Fábregas scored late to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win overLevante at Camp Nou and keep them on track to reclaim the Spanish title. They now have a 13-point lead in La Liga with six games to play.
With top scorer Lionel Messi out, trying to recover from a hamstring injury in time for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg away to Bayern Munich, Barcelona's attack lacked the pace and creativity to break through Levante's disciplined defence until Fábregas struck, six minutes from time.
David Villa had a chance to score for Barcelona in the 17th minute after Pape Diop fouled Andrés Iniesta in the penalty area. But the Levante goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, blocked Villa's spot-kick and sprung to his feet to parry Fábregas's point-blank rebound attempt.
The Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova, sent on Xavi Hernández and Alexis Sanchez in the second half, and it was the Chile forward who found Fábregas in the area for the goal. He rifled the ball just inside the far post before two defenders could close him down.
Eric Abidal played well and for the full 90 minutes in his first start for Barcelona since playing for France in a friendly against Germany in February 2012.
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