(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.
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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.