Barcelona beat Zaragoza 4-0

BARCELONA, Spain (AP):Barcelona cruised to a 4-0 win over Zaragoza yesterday, provisionally drawing level with Spanish leader Real Madrid before their visit to third-place Valencia.

Barcelona's precision passing game kept Zaragoza on the back foot as the three-time defending champions had little trouble extending their excellent start to 19 games without a loss this season.

Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi scored before half-time, with Carles Puyol forcing Zaragoza defender Maurizio Lanzaro into adding an own goal before David Villa capped the win late.

Zaragoza failed to draw a single save from goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Barcelona has outscored their league opponents at Camp Nou 30-0 in seven games this season.

While Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola left Villa and Andres Iniesta on the bench to begin the game with his team set to play AC Milan on Wednesday in the Champions League, he started Messi despite his recent matches and travels with Argentina.

The long international break appeared to show early as Barcelona dominated possession but lacked spark in attack.

But that soon changed when Xavi Hernandez picked out Pique charging into the area unmarked to head home his free kick for the 18th-minute opener.

Counting on madrid loss

"Sometimes it is good to take advantage of set-pieces when teams play back in defence," said Pique, adding that he wasn't counting on Madrid slipping at Valencia. "We just have to focus on ourselves. There is a lot of league left to play."

Ahead in the score, Barcelona began to bombard Zaragoza's area with only Roberto Jimenez's goalkeeping denying the hosts a quick second goal as he saved shots from Messi, forward Alexis Sanchez and left-back Maxwell.

Messi provided a constant threat with his advances through the middle of the defense, and he soon took his league-leading goal tally to 15 when he received Cesc Fabregas' pass inside the area and shot by Roberto with a low right-footed strike. It was the star's 50th goal for Barcelona in 2011.