MADRID (AFP) - Barcelona assistant manager Jordi Roura was delighted with his players' response after a difficult week as they beat Sevilla 2-1 to stretch their lead at the top of La Liga to 15 points.

A 2-0 defeat by AC Milan on Wednesday has left the Catalan sid with an uphill task

if they are to secure their third Champions League title in five years and it seemed their cruise towards a 22nd league title was also about to be stalled when Alberto Botia headed Sevilla into a 1-0 half-time lead on Saturday evening.

However, Roura introduced Cristian Tello for Alexis Sanchez at the break and he was to have a telling effect as, after David Villa had equalised, Tello set up Lionel Messi for the winner just before the hour mark.

"Winning is always the most important thing," Roura said. "The reaction of the team was important. We wanted to see how the team would react and this team has again come out of a difficult moment in front. We have to be happy.

"We moved the change at half-time forward because Alexis had taken a hard knock. We decided to open the game up with Tello wide and Villa in the area. It went well because we were able to score and generally in the second-half things went better."