Barca toast Guardiola's 100th match with fine win

BARCELONA celebrated Pep Guardiola's 100th match at the helm with a 4-0 victory over Racing Santander at Camp Nou to move five points clear at the top of the Primera Liga on Saturday.

Despite missing several key players through injury and losing Zlatan Ibrahimovic just before the match, Guardiola's team brushed aside a disappointing Racing outfit with ease.

Andres Iniesta gave the Catalans the lead after seven minutes and Thierry Henry, handed a rare start by Guardiola after being frozen out in recent weeks, scored the second goal from a free-kick just before the half-hour.

Rafael Marquez notched the third from another set-piece 11 minutes before half-time and youngster Thiago bagged the fourth in the closing stages.

Second-placed Real Madrid had the chance to narrow the gap back to two points last night, when they hosted Villarreal.

In Italy, AS Roma reinvigorated the Serie A title race by beating Catania 1-0 yesterday and cutting the gap with leaders Inter Milan to five points. Champions Inter suffered their third straight draw when they were held 0-0 by Sampdoria on Saturday after having two players sent off.

Juventus moved up to fourth after a patchy 2-1 victory at Bologna, their third win in a row under Alberto Zaccheroni.