FC Barcelona had a comfortable 3-1 win over bottom side of the table Xerez to assure its place as leaders of the Spanish La Liga for another week.

Barcelona looked in control for almost the entire 90 minutes with only a few minutes' nerves in the closing minutes of the first half.

With a vital Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Inter Milan on Wednesday, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola decided to rest striker Leo Messi, while winger Pedro Rodriguez also started the games on the substitutes' bench.

Thierry Henry meanwhile was given the chance to show what he could do in a three-man attack alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Jeffren.

Henry had a chance in the first ten minutes but could only shoot straight at Xerez Keeper Renan, but Barca was ahead after 14 minutes.

Jeffren slipped while turning in the Xerez area, but picked himself up and scored with a left foot shot from a narrow angle.

Barcelona was in control and Henry doubled the lead with a simple tap in after Keita had set Ibrahimovich up to cross the ball into the area.

That was the sign for Barcelona to lose some concentration as the home side sensed the game was already won. That proved to be a mistake after Mario Bermejo brought Xerez back into the match after 25 minutes with a powerful shot following an error from Chygryskiy.

Xerez began to look more solid in defense, although Barcelona also showed signs of waking up as the league leaders realized to secure the points.

That goal arrived ten minutes into the second half after Toure Yaya fed Ibrahimovich who scored after Yaya put over an excellent cross from the left win.

Toure almost added a second himself with a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area with just over 20 minutes remaining.

From then on Barcelona did turn its attention to next Wednesday 's vital game and Guardiola's side were content to control the ball and wait for time to run out.