体坛英语新闻：Messi looks to beat away day blues as Barca visit Racing

MADRID, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Pep Guardiola's FC Barcelona will have to put suspensions and injury worries behind them if they do not want to see their narrow options of winning the BBVA Primera Liga disappear away to Racing Santander on Sunday night.

The feeling in Barcelona is that with a 10 point gap to close on Real Madrid, Madrid will win this year's title, putting an end to three years of Barcelona dominance and with Madrid visiting Betis on Saturday night, that lead could have grown to 13 points by the time Barca kick off.

Guardiola will be without Gerard Pique, who was controversially sent off last weekend against Sporting Gijon, while he also has also of injuries to contend with.

Although Eric Abidal should be fit to play, there are questions over the fitness of Carles Puyol and Thiago Alcantara, who both missed out in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Alexis Sanchez is also sidelined with torn muscle he suffered against Sporting.

Meanwhile David Villa, Andreu Fontas, Ibrahima Affelay and David Villa are long term injuries and may not play again this season.

The good news is that Leo Messi returns after suspension and has benefitted from a weekend off from what has been a hectic schedule since the New Year. He made that perfectly obvious when he became the first man to score five goals in a Champions League game as Barca brushed past Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 on Wednesday night.

Racing meanwhile are third from bottom of the table, three points behind Villarreal, who are the side immediately above them. The side from Cantabria have been hit by internal problems, the majority of them caused by the failure of owner Ali Synd to pay off club debts and Synds's subsequent disappearance amid rumors he is wanted by Interpol for fraud.

As a result Racing are working on a limited budget, with coach Juanjo Gonzalez, who works alongside former player Antonio Pinilla working to organize the side as best they can. However, a total of just 21 goals scored, the joint lowest in the league, shows the extent of their problems and they will be without first choice goalkeeper Tono, who was sent off just two munutes into last weekend' s 4-2 defeat away to Rayo Vallecano.