Messi hat-trick in Barca rout; Juve beat Inter to stay top in Serie A

A first-half hat-trick by Lionel Messi helped Barcelona to a 5-0 win over Mallorca at the Nou Camp on Saturday.

The Argentina international opened the scoring after 13 minutes with a spot kick after Emilio Nsue had handled the ball in the penalty area.

Eight minutes later he tapped in after a miscue from Adriano before completing his hat-trick on the half-hour mark, expertly guiding home a cross from Dani Alves.

Twenty-year-old Issac Cuenca scored his first senior goal for the club five minutes into the second half, while Alves rounded things off with a superbly taken goal in injury time.

A ninth-minute goal from Argentina striker Higuain earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Real Sociedad on Saturday night.

The win puts them one point ahead of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with 25 points, although Levante will depose them if they win at Osasuna on Sunday.

Two goals from Frenchman Sofiane Feghouli and one for Aritz Aduriz earned fourth-placed Valencia a 3-1 win over Getafe, while Villareal were comfortable 2-0 winners over Rayo Vallecano – Bruno Soriano and Borja Valero scoring goals in either half.

Meanwhile in Italy, Juventus remain top of Serie A after a 2-1 win at Inter Milan on Saturday.

All the goals came in an action-packed first half with Juve taking an early lead thanks to a 12th minute strike from Mirko Vucinic.

Maicon equalized for the hosts in the 28th minute, but it wasn’t long before the visitors were back in front – Claudio Marchisio scoring in the 33rd minute.

The win gives Juve a two-point lead at the top of Serie A, but that will be reduced to one point if Udinese beat Palermo on Sunday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice as AC Milan beat Roma 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico to send the reigning league champions up to second in the table.

The Swedish striker opened the scoring in the 17th minute before Nicolas Burdisso equalized for the home side in the 28th minute.

Alessandro Nesta restored Milan’s lead two minutes later before Ibrahimovic made it 3-1 in the 78th minute to all but clinch three points.

Bojan Krkic pulled one back for Roma three minutes before the end but it wasn’t enough to deny the Rossoneri vital away points.

Napoli lost ground with the league leaders as they went down to a 2-1 defeat at Catania.

Edinson Cavani had given Napoli the lead after just 27 seconds, but goals from Giovanni Marchese in the 25th minute and Gonzalo Bergessio three minutes after the break were enough to earn the home side all three points.

Napoli played half the match with 10 men after Mario Santana was sent off shortly before half time.