La Liga: Magical Messi sees Barca past Zaragoza

Lionel Messi continued his remarkable goalscoring form with a hat-trick as Barcelona moved level once more with Real Madrid at the Primera Liga summit with a 4-2 victory at Real Zaragoza.

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Lionel Messi celebrates another magical goal at Zaragoza

The Argentina winger, who also scored a hat-trick in his last league match against Valencia, opened the scoring with a header after five minutes and added two more after the break to send his side 3-0 ahead.

That should have made the game safe for Barca, but Zaragoza rallied with a brace from substitute Adrian Colunga to set up a nervy ending.

Messi, however, quickly stamped out the threat as he embarked on another mazy run to earn a 90th-minute penalty which Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who until then had been profligate, slammed home for his first league goal since February 14.

Second-half goals from Spain internationals Juan Mata and David Silva fired Champions League-chasing Valencia to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Almeria.

After a goalless first half in which the Almeria goal led a charmed life, Valencia finally made the breakthrough in the 63rd minute when Mata rifled home and Silva then made sure of the points with a second strike seven minutes later.

The triumph ended a run of five league and Europa League matches without a victory for third-placed Valencia and means they now boast a four-point gap over Real Mallorca, who replaced Sevilla in fourth place this weekend.

Mallorca continued their sensational home form this season as they thrashed ten-man Atletico Madrid 4-1 to climb into the top four with 11 rounds of the championship remaining.

Victor Casadesus set the islanders on their way with the opener after just 10 minutes and although Diego Forlan hit back for the visitors halfway through the first period, that was as good as things got for Quique Sanchez Flores' side.

Aritz Aduriz restored Mallorca's lead moments later and there was only ever likely to be one winner after Raul Garcia was sent off 10 minutes into the second half. Atletico defender Luis Perea gifted the home side the three points when he turned into his own net with just five minutes left.

Mallorca then round off a resounding victory with a fourth goal in the last minute, scored in some style by Felipe Mattioni.

Substitute Nabil Baha climbed off the bench to fire lowly Malaga to a much-needed 2-0 victory over Villarreal at La Rosaleda.

With the game goalless, Baha was given his chance in the 53rd minute and he responded with both of his side's goals as the Andalusian outfit ended a run of three successive defeats with a deserved triumph.

The result lifted Malaga seven points above the relegation zone and in the process put a big dent in Villarreal's hopes of securing a European berth.

Racing Santander brought their recent goal drought to an end with an impressive 3-1 win at Osasuna in an intense northern encounter in the Primera Division.

Since crashing out to Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey last month, Racing had failed to score in five matches. But the Cantabrians had their shooting boots on in Pamplona, despite going a goal down in the first half.

Miguel Flano gave Osasuna the lead after 32 minutes, but Racing levelled proceedings through Gonzalo Colsa almost straight away and secured a deserved victory following second-half strikes from Christian Fernandez and Papakouli Diop.