Lionel Messi scored an acrobatic goal six minutes into the second half to right the ship as Barcelona overcame a sloppy first half performance in a hard-earned 2-1 triumph over gritty Malaga Saturday afternoon.
Munir El Haddadi had the visitors ahead virtually from the kickoff, but they allowed Malaga way too much attacking space after that and Anor Juanpi leveled the match just past the half-hour.
The visitors, playing without the injured Neymar (hamstring) in the attack, tightened things at the back after the interval, were more alert to Malaga counters and had their usual moment of magic from Messi to collect the three points.
Barcelona extended its latest period of domination to 24 matches without defeat as they won their sixth game in succession over all competitions. The triumph also pushed them top of La Liga, at least until Atletico Madrid, now a point behind, plays Sevilla on Sunday. Barcelona still have a match in hand because of their travel to Japan for the FIFA World Club championship in December.
Malaga, which is now 1-2-18 in its last 21 matches against the leaders, remains 12th in the table with the weekend La Liga program just getting started. They had won three of their last five and did give Barcelona real problems, but their failure to capitalze more on their first half opportunities cost them.
"It is difficult to remember such a weak first half from us," Barca boss Luis Enrique admitted to reporters after the win. "In the second half, we competed better, but even then we made more mistakes than usual. The best thing was the team's spirit. It is easier to win when you play well, but we managed to get three points when playing badly."
El Haddadi had Barcelona on top just 63 seconds after the kickoff but the goal belonged to the creative power of Suarez, who ran onto a slicing Messi through ball on the right and held off the attention of two defenders before spotting the scorer alone in front of an open goal. It was simplicity itself for the youngster to tap in.
Malaga absorbed that early blow and attacked with energy against an uncertain Barcelona defense --without the suspended Gerard Pique and veteran Dani Alves, whose form has been erratic of late. A combination of Claudio Bravo's alert saves, a post and a remarkable shot-saving tackle by Javier Mascherano on Charles at the top of the box kept the visitors on top for a half-hour.
The equalizer finally arrived in the 32nd minute when the Catalans' defense was breached again. Mascherano's aimless clearance was picked off to launch a counter that ended with Juanpi sliding the ball beyond Bravo after a pass by Chory Castro sprung him at the box of the box.
Messi almost had the vistors back ahead two minutes before the break but a great reflex save from Carlos Kameni denied him and also managed to push the rebound just wide of the lurking Suarez.
Luis Enrique had seen enough of his porous backline by halftime. He sent on Jeremy Mathieu for a very uncertain Thomas Vermaelen when the teams came out for the second half. Messi then broke the halftime deadlock with a flying scissors kick from eight yards away to a Adriano cross. The whole build-up was fluid and precise, Aleix Vidal delivering the defense-splitting pass at the top of the box.
It wasn't all easy street for Barcelona after that, but the gaping holes which characterized the first half were not there for Malaga to exploit down the stretch. In fact, the best chance fell to Barcelona, Carlos Kameni having to make a top-class save to deny Messi another goal with three minutes remaining.
