Monday 8 December 2014 09:51, UK
Lionel Messi's hat-trick sparked Barcelona into life as they came from behind to thrash Espanyol 5-1 in the Catalan derby on Sunday.
A day after Cristiano Ronaldo set a new Primera Division record for hat-tricks with 23, Messi grabbed one of his own to move up to 21 himself and secure local bragging rights for Barca in Catalonia.
Messi came to the rescue on the stroke of half-time to cancel out Sergio Garcia's opener for Espanyol, before adding his second five minutes later.
Gerard Pique made it three goals in eight minutes to put Barca firmly in control before Pedro added gloss to the scoreline and Messi turned it into a rout.
The win means Barca, who also saw Real Madrid equal their record of 18 consecutive wins after their 3-0 triumph over Celta Vigo on Saturday, remain two points behind leaders Los Blancos.
David Moyes suffered a humiliating first defeat as Real Sociedad coach as his team were overwhelmed in the second half by a rampant Villarreal.
The visitors withstood the pressure until the 63rd minute when Bruno Soriano's free-kick came off the underside of the bar and bounced off the body of goalkeeper Enaut Zubikarai to roll into the net.
Denis Cheryshev added a second 10 minutes later and then substitute Moi Gomez scored two goals inside six minutes to make it 4-0 and pour more misery on Moyes, who had guided his troops to three clean sheets in his previous three games in charge of the Basques.
Ten-man Sevilla held on to win 1-0 at Rayo Vallecano. An early strike from Carlos Bacca was enough for the visitors, who had midfielder Daniel Carrico sent off for a second bookable offence three minutes from time.
Substitute Isaac Success netted an 89th-minute goal to earn struggling Granada a 1-1 draw with visitors Valencia, who had taken the lead only six minutes earlier thanks to Alvaro Negredo's goal.
Valencia had Paco Alcacer sent off, just four minutes after his 82nd minute introduction.
