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Henry nails first La Liga hat-trick

Thierry Henry scored a sensational hat-trick, his first league goals for Barcelona, as they knocked rivals Real Madrid off the top of the table with a crushing 4-1 win over Levante on Saturday.

French superstar Henry had been waiting patiently for his first goal in the Spanish championship since his 24 million euros (US$34 million) summer move from Arsenal and then three came at once.

Henry broke his duck on 17 minutes, sliding the ball home after Lionel Messi's initial shot was saved.

The second arrived seven minutes later when the Frenchman raced on to a brilliant pass from Messi and produced a trademark side-footed finish.

Henry capped a fine game with his third after 48 minutes before Messi scored two minutes later and the Argentinian now tops the scoring charts with five goals.

"I am delighted for Thierry," Messi said. "It is great that he is off the mark and we are happy to get another three points from a great display."

It was Barcelona's first away win of the season and on this evidence there will be many more as bottom side Levante were pulverised by the marauding runs of Messi and Henry.

Barcelona now lead the 20-strong table although Real, just one point behind, could reclaim top spot with a draw or win at Getafe yesterday.

There is no rest for Barcelona who travel to Germany to face VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League on Tuesday.

If the German champions watched this display they will be quaking at the prospect of containing Argentinian Wunderkind Messi who was sensational with his mesmerising runs reminiscent of Diego Maradona in his pomp.

The Spanish media hailed Messi, 20, as the greatest player on the planet this week labeling him the "Messi-ah" and he was simply unplayable at times.

A year ago Ronaldinho was regarded as the world's finest but the Brazilian, who has had a difficult time with loss of form and reports of inappropriate off-the-field antics, was again missing due to a calf injury and Barcelona have now won three games in a row in his absence.

Another boost for Barcelona was the return of captain Carles Puyol, who came on for his first appearance since suffering a knee injury in June.

While Barcelona are flying, title hopefuls Sevilla are showing no sign of recovering from their current slump. They crashed to their third successive league defeat with a 2-0 reverse at Real Zaragoza on Saturday.

Argentinian Andres D'Alessandro broke the deadlock on 53 minutes and Sergio Garcia struck late on to condemn Sevilla to a fourth straight defeat.
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