Lionel Messi grabbed his 400th career goal, while Neymar smashed a hat-trick as Barcelona stormed back to the top of La Liga with a 6-0 thrashing of Granada on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid moved into second, two points behind Barca, after they beat previously undefeated Sevilla 4-0 at home.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo’s hot scoring streak continued in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win at Villarreal to remain four points off the top in fourth.
Photo: Reuters
Barca stretched their run of consecutive clean sheets to seven, but rediscovered their scoring touch after being held to a 0-0 draw at Malaga last week as Messi and Neymar shone.
After a slow start, Barca took the lead on 26 minutes as Neymar was gifted the ball inside the Granada half and surged forward, before seeing his effort deflect past the helpless Roberto via Jean-Sylvain Babin.
Messi then increased his number of assists this season to seven as he crossed right-footed for Ivan Rakitic to head home and Neymar tapped into an empty net to make it 3-0 after Roberto had denied Munir El Haddadi.
Barca continued to dominate after the break as Dani Alves provided Messi with a fine cross that the four-time World Player of the Year headed home.
Messi returned to being the provider for Neymar to complete his hat-trick with a cut-back that the Brazilian dispatched low past Roberto and he rounded off the afternoon by robbing the Granada defense of possession and slotting home his fifth goal of the season and the 400th of his career.
Sevilla had started the day level on points with Barca, but their four-match winning streak came to an end at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico produced their most complete performance since winning the title in May.
The hosts went in front after 19 minutes when Koke’s deflected effort left Beto with no chance, before Saul Niguez continued Atletico’s streak of scoring from set-pieces when he headed home the second just before halftime.
Raul Garcia put the result beyond doubt from the penalty spot seven minutes from time after Antoine Griezmann had been felled in the area and Raul Jimenez sealed a fine night for Atletico when he headed in a minute from time.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has now scored 13 goals in nine matches as Real won for the third consecutive La Liga match at Villarreal.
Real survived an early onslaught from Villarreal and won the game with two goals in eight minutes before the break as Luka Modric drilled home the opener, before Ronaldo converted from Karim Benzema’s pass to register his eighth goal in a week.
In other matches, Leo Baptistao netted twice as Rayo Vallecano de Madrid won 2-0 away at Levante UD, while Athletic Bilbao were held to a goalless draw by Sociedad Deportiva Eibar.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two