By DPA
Madrid : Barcelona moved up to second place in Spanish Primera Liga football with a late 2-1 home win over ultra-defensive Sevilla.
The well-deserved win Saturday evening takes Barca up to second in La Liga with eight points from four games, just one point now behind leaders Real Madrid, who are at newly promoted Valladolid Sunday night.
Sevilla are in third place with six points from two games.
Lionel Messi scored both goals late – the second from the penalty spot – and is now the new idol of the Camp Nou in place of the troubled Ronadinho.
The Brazilian striker missed the game with a right leg injury, amid renewed rumours about alleged unprofessional nightlife.
Messi, Eric Abidal and Deco all went close for Barca in the first half. At the other end, Sevilla midfielder Renato hit the Barca bar with a looping header in a rare attack by the overcautious visitors.
Thierry Henry looked fitter than previously and almost broke the deadlock on the hour, but his snap shot was pushed on to the post by Sevilla goalkeeper Andres Palop.
The breakthrough finally came in the 72nd minute when Henry set up Messi, who scored with an acrobatic left-foot drive.
Seven minutes later, Messi calmly made it 2-0 from the penalty spot, after Christian Poulsen had needlessly pulled down Giovani dos Santos at a corner.
Just when it seemed that Barca would pile on more goals, Sevilla belatedly came out of their defensive shell.
Seven minutes from time, Sevilla sub Aleksandr Zerzhakov had what looked like a good goal harshly disallowed for a foul by Frederic Kanoute.
In injury time, Kanoute pulled back a goal by powering his way past Oleguer Presas.
But it was too little, too late to save Sevilla, who had spent most of the match trying to contain the hosts instead of attacking.