Barcelona inflicted more misery on basement outfit Deportivo La Coruna with a 2-0 win at Camp Nou on Saturday.

Barcelona peppered the away side's goal in the first period, but left it until the 39th minute to take the lead, when Alexis Sanchez headed home from close range.

The home side dominated possession in the second period, with Lionel Messi adding their second in the final couple of minutes.

Here, Sports Mole dissects the 90 minutes of action between the two La Liga rivals.

Match statistics:

Barcelona:
Shots: 13
On target: 7
Possession: 72%
Corners: 2
Fouls: 14

Deportivo:
Shots: 2
On target: 0
Possession: 28%
Corners: 0
Fouls: 13

Was the result fair?

It is hard to argue that Barcelona did not deserve to pick up all three points this evening. They were not at their best by any stretch of the imagination, but Deportivo did not offer enough to be worthy of a point. Depor's fight for relegation will not depend on results at Camp Nou, but they did not let anyone down this evening.

Barcelona's performance

The Catalan outfit should have been out of sight in the opening 30 minutes, with three or four clear opportunities to find the back of the net. A combination of poor finishing and heroics from Daniel Aranzubia, however, kept the score at just 1-0 at the interval. The second period followed a similar pattern, but Messi lit up the half with a fine finish.

Deportivo's performance

But for a stunning performance from their goalkeeper, the basement outfit would have been 4-0 down at the interval. As it happened, they were only one behind but did not offer anything to suggest that they were capable of finding a goal of their own. They improved defensively in the second period, but just could not create an opportunity of note.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Daniel Aranzubia: The Deportivo goalkeeper was just stunning this evening. Barcelona had seven shots on target in the first period, but managed just one goal with the Spaniard producing a number of sensational saves.

Biggest gaffe of the match

David Villa had a glorious chance to put his side into the lead after 25 minutes, but for some reason the Spaniard decided to fire straight at the Deportivo goalkeeper with no player close to him. It was a quite stunning miss from the forward.

Referee performance

Pedro Perez had a fairly productive 90 minutes of action this evening. The Spaniard was a spectator for large periods of the first period, but was called into action in the second half. Overall, neither side will have had many complaints about his performance.

What next?

Barcelona: The Catalan outfit will attempt to overturn a 2-0 scoreline when they welcome AC Milan to Camp Nou in their last-16 Champions League clash on Tuesday.

Deportivo: The basement outfit will attempt to record an overdue win when they welcome fellow strugglers Celta Vigo next Friday.