Football
PA Sport 9y

Lionel Messi sets record as Barcelona win; Cristiano Ronaldo hits brace

Lionel Messi scored his first hat trick of the season and made history as he fired Barcelona to a resounding 5-1 win at home to Sevilla.

The treble took him past former Athletic Bilbao forward Telmo Zarra's La Liga goals record of 251 and brought his tally to 253 in only 289 games.

The 27-year-old opened the scoring with a sensational free kick to draw level with Zarra, but his strike was cancelled out by Jordi Alba's own goal at the start of the second half.

Neymar headed Barca back in front moments later and Ivan Rakitic extended Barca's lead before Messi broke the scoring record after an awesome combination with Neymar and struck again to complete his treble.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid strolled to a 4-0 win at Eibar.

James Rodriguez gave Real the lead, with his strike added to just before half-time by Ronaldo.

Karim Benzema made it 3-0 with 20 minutes left and Ronaldo's penalty rounded off a comfortable success, taking him to 25 goals for the season, 20 of those in La Liga.

Diego Simeone implored Atletico Madrid to treat the visit of Malaga as a cup final -- and his players responded with the kind of clinical performance that has brought multiple trophies to the club in recent seasons.

The Primera Division champions earned a 3-1 victory courtesy of goals from Tiago, Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godin.

Roque Santa Cruz had cut Atletico's lead to 2-1 midway through the second half, but the dismissal of Samu soon afterwards left them hampered. Once the two-goal margin was restored by Godin's header, Atletico were able to absorb the late sending-off of Gabi.

In the late game, David Moyes began his spell in charge of Real Sociedad with a hard-fought, albeit dull goalless draw with Deportivo La Coruna at Riazor.

Moyes' side should have been given the opportunity to take an early lead, but nine minutes in the referee inexplicably failed to award a spot-kick for an apparent blatant shirt pull on Imanol Agirretxe.

In the end, the deadlock could not be broken, but Sociedad were well worthy of a point against a Deportivo side devoid of creativity and attacking threat.

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