It may not have been the most convincing of victories, but Barcelona know how crucial it was to come away from Saturday's trip to Real Mallorca with all three points.

The Catalan giants went into the clash trailing leaders Real Madrid by seven points after losing to Bernd Schuster's men in the final game of 2007, while the mood in the Barca camp was hardly helped by Wednesday's embarrassing home draw with third division Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey.

Barca at least boasted an impressive recent record in Mallorca, and although they were not firing on all cylinders, second-half goals from Rafael Marquez and Samuel Eto'o saw the Catalan giants triumph on the Balearic Island for the sixth year in succession.

It was far from comfortable though, and it took Frank Rijkaard's troops 63 minutes to finally make the breakthrough thanks to Marquez and they were unable to make the game safe until deep into injury-time when Eto'o notched to make it 2-0.

Defender Gabriel Milito insists winning the three points took precedence over anything else though, saying: "We know that there are games like that, and we know that even if we don't win how we want to you still have to win.

"The three points are important following a defeat and we had to recover.

"It is a difficult ground to play at against a good team but we know we could not drop a single point. The victory was deserved."

Real could extend their lead back to seven points if they beat Milito's former club Real Zaragoza on Sunday night, but with the season not even halfway through, the Argentinian defender believes Barca only need to concern themselves with their own results.

"We must think of ourselves and win games, and in this way pick up points," Milito added.

"I imagine that Madrid will lose some points, but the most important thing is that we win and continue taking it game by game."

Milito's team-mates Andres Iniesta and Edmilson were also delighted to start the new year with a valuable three-point return in the league.

Spain midfielder Iniesta said on his club's website: "It has been tough but the team had a magnificent attitude and we have obtained three important points at a time when the team could not fail."

Edmilson added: "The result has helped us a lot for both the three points and because it will motivate us in the coming games."