Neymar scores hat-trick, Messi reaches 400th goal in Barca's 6-0 win

AP, Saturday 27 Sep 2014

Neymar
Barcelona's Neymar from Brazil celebrates scoring his side's fifth goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between F.C. Barcelona and Granada C.F. at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona (Photo: AP)

Lionel Messi scored his 400th and 401st goals for club and country, Neymar hit a hat trick and Barcelona thrashed Granada 6-0 in the Spanish league on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo also found the net for his sixth straight game in Real Madrid's 2-0 win at Villarreal as Spain's traditional powerhouses warmed up for their Champions League matches.

Messi's 358th goal for Barcelona, along with 42 for Argentina, came with Barcelona leading 3-0 when he headed in Dani Alves' superb one-touch cross in the 56th minute.

He added No. 359 for the Catalan club in the 82nd to cap the lopsided win.

Neymar opened the scoring in the 25th before Messi continued his playmaking by participating in the Brazil striker's next two goals and assisting Ivan Rakitic.

The win gave Barcelona the provisional league lead. Sevilla can match it on points with a win at defending champion Atletico Madrid later, as can Valencia at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Barcelona heads to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday with more than a finely tuned attack. Its defense hasn't conceded a goal in seven games this season.

After an up-and-down season last year, Messi has returned in fine form from Argentina's defeat in the World Cup final to Germany. The forward has scored or participated in 14 of Barcelona's 18 goals in all competitions.

Already Barcelona's all-time leading scorer, the 27-year-old Messi is closing in on two more milestones. He is four goals from equaling Athletic Bilbao's Telmo Zarra as the Spanish league's all-time leading scorer with 251. And he is four goals from matching Raul Gonzalez's record of 71 goals in the Champions League.

Granada striker Youssef El Arabi hit the crossbar in the visitors' first and best scoring chance in the seventh minute.

Joaquin Caparros' team resisted well until midfielder Hector Yuste gifted the ball to Neymar whose shot took a deflection off defender Jean-Sylvain Babin and looped over goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez before bouncing into the net.

Messi set up the second goal by dribbling past two defenders before crossing for Rakitic to score with a glancing header in the 43rd.

Two minutes later Messi's through ball to Munir El Haddadi led to Roberto charging out to clear the ball, only for it to fall to Neymar who fired into the open net.

Messi found Neymar in the area to slot in his sixth league goal this season in the 66th before the Argentine scored for a second time.

Villarreal attacked Madrid early on at El Madrigal Stadium, as an airplane circled overhead trailing a banner asking Ronaldo to return to former club Manchester United.

But Luka Modric struck from long range in the 32nd, and Karim Benzema set up Ronaldo for his league-leading 10th goal in the 40th.

Madrid's third straight league win provisionally lifted it into fourth place before it travels to Bulgaria to play Ludogorets in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Madrid has outscored its opponents 20-4 in its last four games in all competitions, with Ronaldo scoring nine times in that span.

"The best thing is that we won a difficult game against a team that played well," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "The key was the second goal and Karim played an important role, passing the ball to Cristiano. He deserves credit, even if he didn't score. Sometimes it is better to pass than to score."

Villarreal did everything right in attack until it came to the hardest part of putting the ball past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

In between several misfired shots, Mario Perez tested Casillas with a low strike on the half hour mark before Modric caught goalie Sergio Asenjo flat-footed by quickly taking a shot from outside the area.

Benzema sprinted half the pitch to run down James Rodriguez's pass, hold off a marker, and square the ball for Ronaldo to slot home. Having spent its energies in the first half, Villarreal never threatened to come back after halftime.

Also later, Athletic Bilbao hosted Eibar, and Rayo Vallecano was at Levante.

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)

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