Barca leave it late

Reuters: Barcelona left it late to maintain their perfect start to the season against Granada on Saturday and Real Madrid’s match at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday was called off in bizarre circumstances after the floodlights were sabotaged.

Barcelona made it five wins out of five and stretched their lead at the top to four points but were made to sweat in a 2-0 home win over Granada on Saturday.

Xavi finally broke the deadlock four minutes from time with a well-executed volley that crashed in off the crossbar and a mazy Lionel Messi run into the box forced a Granada own goal in stoppage time.

Malaga were held to a 0-0 draw at Athletic Bilbao and dropped below Real Mallorca into third after the Balearic Islanders beat struggling Valencia 2-0.

Champions Real Madrid were due to play at city rivals Rayo Vallecano in Sunday’s late kickoff but the match was abandoned in bizarre circumstances after Rayo officials said the lighting at their Estadio de Vallecas stadium had been sabotaged.

The game, which will likely be played on Monday, was due to kick off at 2130 local time (1930 GMT) but the stadium was in semi-darkness and fans were still waiting outside the locked arena as workmen toiled to fix the affected lights.

Real were looking to get their campaign back on track after taking only four points from their opening four games.