Leo Messi turned another page of football history on Saturday night when he became the highest goalscorer in the history of the Spanish Primera Liga thanks to a hat-trick which helped FC Barcelona to a 5-1 win at home to Sevilla.

The Argentinean gave his side the lead with a 21st minute free kick, which was his 251st league goal, equaling that of Telmo Zarra which had stood since the 1950's.

Sevilla levelled the game in the 47th minute with a Jordi Alba own goal, achieving the difficult feat of scoring without having a shot on goal all game, but a Neymar header put Barca back in front immediately afterwards.

A Luis Suarez cross allowed Ivan Rakitic to make it 3-1 against his former club, before Messi's second and third goals of the game saw him seal a new record and send the Camp Nou into raptures.

Barca had been under pressure to take all three points after both Real and Atletico Madrid had won earlier in the day.

Real Madrid won 4-0 away to Eibar with two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as efforts from James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema, although Eibar will correctly point out that James' opening goal should not have stood given it was preceded by two clear offsides from Ronaldo and Benzema, while the ball had gone out of play before Benzema''s goal.

Atletico Madrid once again showed their tactical awareness from set pieces to defeat an in-form Malaga thanks to goals from Tiago Cardoso, Antione Griezmann and Diego Godin, while Roque Santa Cruz scored Malaga's consolation goal in a match both sides ended with 10 men after red cards show Atletico's Gabi and Malaga's Samuel. the second of which was extremely rigorous

Valencia, like Sevilla, also lost ground on the top three as they were beaten 2-1 by city rivals Levante, who took all three points thanks to a magnificent winning goal from Morales just after Dani Parejo had canceled out Victor Casadesus' opener for Levante who are improving under Lucas Acaraz.

Meanwhile Cordoba remain without a win, but will continue to take heart from a 2-2 draw away to Elche, who missed a first half penalty.

Sunday kicked off with Rayo Vallecano winning a tough game against Celta Vigo 1-0 in a Vallecas Stadium where the fans showed their pride at a team which has promised to pay the rent of an 85-year-old local woman who was evicted from her home earlier this week as a result of her son's unpaid debts. Alberto Bueno's 20th minute goal gave Rayo a win that nobody will begrudge them.

David Moyes' debut as Real Sociedad coach ended in a 0-0 draw away to Deportivo; Moyes side controlled the first half and missed several chances, while Deportivo had the better of the second 45 minutes.

The round of matches kicked off on Friday night as Athletic Club Bilbao continued their return to form with a 3-1 at home to Espanyol. Aritz Adruriz, Borja Viguera, with his first goal for the club, and Ander Iturraspe assured the points for the Basque side. Endite

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