Barcelona: Barcelona and Lionel Messi were in thrilling form as they thumped Atletico Madrid 5-0 at Camp Nou to return to winning ways on Saturday night.
The game was billed as a duel between Atletico's Radamel Falcao and two-time World Player of the Year Messi.
But Atletico's new striker didn't touch the ball until 30 minutes in, and by then Messi had already followed up David Villa's opener by forcing an own goal by J.Miranda and adding a third to set Barcelona on their way to their fifth straight home win over the visitors.
The home side began the match without defenders Carlos Puyol or Gerard Pigue (bench), along with Alexis Sanchez and Andres Iniesta (injury). Yet coach Pep Guardiola opted to again push midfielders Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano back into the center of defence. However, they got off to a sensational start, dominating in possession and completing passes.
It was Atletico Madrid who threatened early as Tiago’s 4th-minute shot beat Victor Valdes, which was then denied by the crossbar.
But the influential Xavi Hernandez settled the hosts' nerves when he fed David Villa, who cut back and shot under Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Barcelona were completing a shuffle of passes on the pitch even before they found their first goal in the ninth minute through Villa. The Spanish international brought the ball down with his chest on the left side of the penalty area and tucked it in the bottom right corner.
The home side netted their second only six minutes later with an own goal after Lionel Messi attempted to touch the ball past the keeper, resulting in a deflection off the knee of Atletico defender J.Miranda.
Barcelona continued to dominate the game with a flourish of runs and passes when Messi grabbed his first and Barcelona’s third of the night in the 26th minute. A throw-in resulted in a simple round of passes that found Messi dashing towards goal on the left side, beating a defender, and placing the ball in the bottom corner of the net in the 26th.
Cesc Fabregas nearly found his first of the night in the 41st minute after an attempted chip over the Atletico keeper just outside the box, only for the ball to graze the crossbar and go behind goal.
Barcelona began the second half in similar fashion with Gerard Pique being brought into the match. The home side created a chance in the 53rd minute with Cesc Fabregas feeding the ball to Messi in the box, only for the Belgian keeper to get another save.
The hosts kept much possession of the ball when they had created another chance in the 67th minute after Lionel Messi left David Villa one-on-one with the keeper, but the striker could not finish.
Barcelona grabbed their fourth of the night in the 78th minute after a moment of brilliance from Lionel Messi who received the ball from Dani Alves on the right, and strolled past three Atletico defenders to pass the ball into the goal.
The little Argentine then grabbed a hat-trick in stoppage time after making a run down the left and putting the ball between the keepers legs, passing Cristiano Ronaldo as the league's top-scorer with eight goals.
Earlier, Ronaldo had also netted three as 10-man Real Madrid downed Rayo Vallecano 6-2.
Barcelona's next match is away to Bate Borisov.
Also, Frederic Kanoute's first-half goal gave nine-man Sevilla a 1-0 win over 10-man Valencia, and Villarreal drew 1-1 at 10-man Athletic Bilbao as the Basques remained winless under new coach Marcelo Bielsa.
Barcelona and Sevilla moved one point behind leaders Real Betis' 12 points, while Madrid have 10 along with Valencia.
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