La Liga wrap: Messi hat-trick inspires record-breaking Barca

A Lionel Messi hat-trick guided Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday, moving them 10 points clear on top of La Liga.

In the process, Barca notched up their 16th consecutive league win, breaking Real Madrid’s record of 15 – a mark that had stood for 50 years.

After being rested from Barca’s 3-0 Copa del Rey win over Almeria in midweek, Messi was simply unstoppable at the Nou Camp and the 23-year-old opened the scoring on 17 minutes with a low shot from the edge of the box before firing home a second from close range 11 minutes later.

He completed his hat-trick 10 minutes from full-time as Barca continued their march towards a third successive title.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Villarreal failed to make up any ground on second-placed Real Madrid when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to relegation battlers Levante, with midfielder Valdo scoring the only goal of the game three minutes after half-time.

Villarreal remain third despite the defeat, three points behind Real Madrid who take on Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Almeria caused another surprise when they enjoyed a 3-2 home win over Espanyol, who fell to sixth.

The hosts raced to a 3-0 lead after just 18 minutes thanks to goals from Silva Marcelo Henrique, Kala Uche and Hernan Bernardello, but a 34th-minute goal from Verdu and another from Alvaro Vasquez four minutes after half-time put some spice back in the contest.

Athletic Bilbao climbed to fifth with a 3-0 home win over Sporting Gijon thanks to goals from David Lopez, Gaizka Toquero and Fernando Llorente, while Getafe moved to eighth after an Adrian Colunga brace helped them to a 4-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna.

Osasuna and Mallorca played out a 1-1 draw, as did Real Zaragoza and Racing Santander.