Barcelona held to controversial draw by defiant Sevilla

 Spanish leaders Barcelona were held to a 1-1 draw on Sunday at Sevilla in a vibrant clash full of controversy and goalmouth action.
Bojan, who came on for the injured Pedro, gave Barca the lead, only for Jesus Navas to equalize for Sevilla. Barca idol Lionel Messi had a goal wrongly disallowed, and Bojan was refused a clear late penalty.
The draw leaves Barca five points ahead of second-place Real Madrid, who on Saturday beat lowly Hercules 2-0 at home.
Messi's disallowed goal came after just nine minutes, for a supposed push by Sergio Busquets at a free-kick. Pedro then limped off with a pulled muscle, and Bojan, his replacement, made it 1-0 in the 31st minute by turning in a centre from Dani Alves.
Barca's domination continued, and Messi hit the post, then forced several sharp saves out of Sevilla keeper Javi Varas.
Sevilla came out for the second half determined to hit Barca on

the break. In the 50th minute, Alvaro Negredo beat Alves down the left and centred for Navas to make it 1-1 with a simple header.
Barca lay siege to the Sevilla goal from then on, though Sevilla had chances on the break.
Andres Iniesta twice came close to scoring a late winner for Barca, but he was first denied by the crossbar and afterward by Sevilla midfielder Gary Medel, who hacked the ball off the goal-line.
Earlier Sunday, Sporting Gijon had improved their survival chances with a valuable late 1-1 draw at fourth-place Villarreal, despite finishing with nine men.
The in-form Guiseppe Rossi gave the hosts the lead on the half hour with his 15th league goal. Gijon keeper Ivan Cuellar clumsily dropped a corner, and the Italian pounced to make it 1-0 from close range.
In the 66th minute, Gijon were reduced to 10 men when left-back Jose Angel was sent off for dissent. But the visitors continued to come forward, and Villarreal looked tired after their exertions on Thursday in a Europa league win at Bayer Leverkusen.
In the 90th minute, Gijon right-back Rafael Sastre was sent off for pulling down Rossi, and the visitors' cause seemed hopeless. But three minutes into injury-time they were given a dubious penalty for an alleged foul by Gonzalo Rodriguez on David Barral, and Diego Castro calmly made it 1-1 from the spot.
Gijon coach Manuel Preciado said: "We really didn't deserve to lose this game. In the end, justice was done."
The disappointing draw left Villarreal with 51 points from 28 games, three points behind third-place Valencia, who crashed 4-0 on Saturday at Zaragoza.
Earlier Sunday, Espanyol moved up to fifth with a 2-0 home defeat of 10-man Deportivo Coruna.
Second-half goals from Ivan Alonso and Joan Verdu gave Espanyol a comfortable win.
Deportivo, who had Pablo Alvarez harshly sent off four minutes before half-time, rarely threatened Carlos Kameni in the Espanyol goal.
Veteran Uruguayan striker Ivan Alonso gave Espanyol the lead in the 62nd minute by heading in a centre from left-back David Garcia. Verdu made it 2-0 in the 81st minute with a fierce drive, after the Deportivo defence had failed to clear a free-kick.
Espanyol now have 43 points from 28 games, two points ahead of Athletic Bilbao, who are at Getafe on Monday. Espanyol are eight points behind Villarreal.
sunday's other early games all had relegation significance.
Malaga, one of the three teams at the bottom, scored an important 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on goals from Duda and Jose Rondon.
Osasuna beat fellow strugglers Racing Santander 3-1 with goals from Kike Sola, Fernando Soriano and Javad Nekounam. Levante were held 1-1 by Mallorca.
Hercules are joint bottom on 26 points with Malaga and Almeria. Then come Gijon on 29 and Santander and Zaragoza on 30.