FC Barcelona survived a scare before beating Malaga 2-1 to retain its place at the top of Spain's Primera Liga Saturday night.

Pep Guardiola's side totally dominated the 90 minutes against an improved Malaga, but had to wait until midway through the second half before Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring with a smart shot from outside of the penalty area.

Malaga looked as if they could spring a major surprise when Valdo beat the offside trap to make the score 1-1 with just 10 minutes remaining.

However, the game had one final card up its sleeve as Leo Messi finished off a slick move that involved Xavi Hernandez and the fit again Dani Alves, just seven minutes from time.

Real Madrid had put the pressure on Barcelona with a 5-1 win away to Tenerife.

The side from the Canary Islands had no answer to Real Madrid and Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in the first half to give Madrid a comfortable lead.

Ayoze put his side briefly back into the game early in the second half, but Kaka added a third for Madrid after 48 minutes and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty 10 minutes from time and an injury time goal from Raul added extra gloss to the score.

Saturday kicked off with Zaragoza claiming a surprise 2-0 win away to Getafe.

Zaragoza had kicked off fourth from bottom of the table, but claimed the points thanks to striker ‘Chupete’ Suazo.

The Chilean striker scored after three and 19 minutes and dedicated both of his goals to the victim of the earthquake suffered in his homeland.