da dobrowin: 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.
da brwin: 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.