( CNN ) -- Barcelona restored their lead at the top of La Liga on Sunday night with a hard fought 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao at the Nou Camp . The league leaders made the perfect start after their midweek defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League with David Villa scoring after four minutes , latching onto a knock down from Daniel Alves . Despite dominating possession , Barca failed to find the net again in the first half and were made to pay five minutes after the break when Bilbao were awarded a penalty as Sergio Busquets brought down Fernando Llorente inside the box . Andoni Iraola duly converted the spot kick beating Jose Manuel Pinto who was standing in for the injured Victor Valdes . But Barca 's persistence finally paid off as Alves grabbed his second assist of the night laying the ball off for Messi who finished with customary aplomb . The win restores Josep Guardiola team 's five-point lead over rivals Real Madrid who beat Levante on Saturday . Mourinho milestone as Real Madrid win . Villarreal missed the opportunity to close the gap on Champions League rivals Valencia ( who drew 0-0 with Sporting Gijon on Saturday ) , as they played out a 1-1 draw against bottom-of-the-table Malaga . A win would have sent Villarreal up to third place but an 82nd minute strike by Uruguay 's Sebastian Fernandez cancelled out Marco Ruben 's 36th minute goal . The result means Villarreal remain in fourth , two points behind Valencia . New Osasuna coach , Jose Luis Mendilibar got off to a flyer as his side thrashed Espanyol 4-0 in Pamplona . Iranian midfielder Javad Nekounam opened the scoring after 15 minutes and doubled Osasuna 10 minutes into the second half as he slotted a penalty . Lola ( 81st minute ) and Fernando Soriano ( 88th minute ) completed a resounding win which lifts Osasuna out of the bottom three . Despite losing their fourth successive league game , Espanyol stay in sixth place but are now nine points off a top four finish . Deportivo La Coruna left it late to grab a point at Almeria . Argentine Pablo Piatti had put Almeria ahead three minutes into the second half , but Deportivo 's goalkeeper Dani Aranzubia scored a dramatic 95th minute equalizer . The draw keeps Almeria in 19th place and three points from safety . Sevilla move up to seventh after a 1-0 win over Hercules . Croatian Ivan Rakitic 's 21st minute goal proving enough to secure three points and relieve the pressure on coach Gregorio Manzano . An 89th minute penalty by Pablo Pinillos secured Racing Santander a crucial win over at Getafe . The result means Santander now lie 12th in the table with 28 points , while ninth-placed Getafe remain on 31 points .
Lionel Messi scores the winner as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at the Nou Camp . Win restores Barca 's five-point cushion over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga . Villareal draw 1-1 with Malaga and miss chance to make up ground on Valencia .