La Liga wrap: Messi nets four in Barca rout

Lionel Messi reached 200 goals in his La Liga career, scoring four times as Barcelona smashed Osasuna 5-1 at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

The four-time Ballon D’or winner was gifted his first goal by Osasuna keeper’ Andres Fernandez on 11 minutes as he rounded the stopper after benefiting from a poor clearance.

Poor defending from the league leaders briefly allowed Osasuna back into the game with Raoul Loe punishing a miscued defensive clearance in the 24th minute.

But only four minutes later, the visitors were left reeling by the sending off of Alejandro Arribas for handball and Messi converted the subsequent penalty.

Controversy surrounded Barcelona’s third goal in the 40th minute when it appeared that Dani Alves was offside as he received the ball before picking out goalscorer Pedro.

Messi’s milestone was achieved in the 56th minute as he again rounded Fernandez before the Argentine grabbed his fourth with a tap-in only two minutes later.

Meanwhile, a second-half Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick powered Spanish champions Real Madrid to a 4-0 win over Getafe at the Santiago Bernabeu.

After a goalless first half, Sergio Ramos opened the scoring in the 53rd minute before Ronaldo scored his three within a 10 minute period.

The former Manchester United forward finished off a counter attack on 62 minutes and headed home at the far post in the 65th minute to effectively end the contest.

Ronaldo’s hat-trick strike was from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute after Luka Modric was fouled in the area.

Rayo Vallecano jumped to fifth in the standings with a 3-0 win over fourth-placed Real Betis.

Spanish midfielder Pit got the hosts off to a perfect start with a fourth minute penalty before second-half strikes to Andrija Delibasic and Jose Carlos wrapped up the points.

More to follow…