Welcome to live coverage of Barcelona's away trip to Sporting in La Liga.

Sporting succeeding in playing high up the pitch, denying Barca space.

Alves coming back from an offside position as Mascherano picks a pass to feet down the centre.

All the time the clock ticks down. Is this the breakthrough Madrid have dreamt of after 16 straight Liga wins for Pep Guardiola's men?

Home captain Rafel Sastre with a late tackle on Villa. He was going for the ball - both players are down hurt.

Europe's top 20 football clubs earned more than four billion euros (£3.4bn) between them last season, bucking the financial downturn and leaving them well equipped to comply with UEFA's financial fair play rules. And guess who the top two were?

Advantage played and Novo is played through... Victor Valdes out quickly to clear as the flag goes up. He was level.

Long ball forward from Sporting to no one. Time to dig in and see out the half.

Angel wraps an arm around a Barca player as he races past and hauls him to the ground. Booking.

Pressure building now upon the Sporting backline as Maxwell is blocked on his way in from the left.

Nacho Novo studs away the ball as Messi waits for it to come down. Iniesta receives a quick throw and forces a save from Cuellar... there is no one there to follow up.

No way through the massed ranks of home defenders and midfielders.

Barcelona clear the corner and try to put their collective foot on the ball once more. It isn't happening for them tonight.

Pique with a desperate tackle to deny Sporting on the left - they had two men against one almost with Alves nowhere to be seen!

Alves plays a one-two with Messi and when the ball breaks to Iniesta, he has to snatch at a shot with his left foot 18 yards out - well wide.

Jeffren is also missing through injury while Pedro is rested on the bench. Messi played 90 minutes of Argentina's friendly in midweek.

Messi getting on the ball now and finds Afellay on the right - a ball across is cleared near the penalty spot.

No Carles Puyol today, and he will likely miss the Champions League game against Arsenal.

Castro catches Iniesta very late and Barca take a quick kick - Villa flagged offside. He was not.

Villa forced to evade a tackle inside the Sporting penalty area.

Tippy-tappy football from Sporting in the centre-circle - Barca take umbrage and the ball back.

Ibrahim Afellay, making his full Liga debut today, with his first meaningful touch on the right - but after passing Angel the full-back recovers to make a successful challenge.