Messi hat trick lifts Barca over Levante

Madrid — Lionel Messi marked his 300th La Liga appearance with his 31st Barcelona hat trick as the Catalans moved within a point of Real Madrid at the top of the table with a 5-0 win over Levante.

However, champions Atletico Madrid remain seven points off the top in third after losing 2-0 at Celta Vigo. Barca have now won 11 straight matches in all competitions and never looked in danger despite coach Luis Enrique making eight changes from the side that beat Villarreal in the Copa del Rey in midweek.

Messi teed up Neymar to open the scoring early on and then took over scoring duties himself to push out his all-time La Liga tally to 269 goals. Yet, even the Argentine was upstaged by a stunning overhead kick from substitute Luis Suarez to round off the scoring.

Barca’s luck was in on 17 minutes when Neymar mishit Messi’s dinked pass over the Levante defence only for the ball to spin high into the air and drop into the far corner of the net.

Messi didn’t need the same fortune to make it 2-0 as Marc Bartra robbed the ball deep inside the Levante half and fed his teammate to slot home his 35th goal of the season. Messi doubled his tally just before the hour mark as Sergio Busquets’s lovely pass into Pedro was turned across goal by the Spanish international for Messi to tap home.

Valencia needed an Alvaro Negredo penalty 19 minutes from time to see off Getafe 1-0 and move back above Sevilla into fourth.

Villarreal’s chances of a top four finish were dented, however, as they were undone by second-half goals by Alberto Bueno and Gael Kakuta in a 2-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano.