Lionel Messi scored a hat trick to lead Barcelona to a 5-0 win over Atletico Madrid on a night when fellow Spanish league star Cristiano Ronaldo also netted three as 10-man Real Madrid downed Rayo Vallecano 6-2.

The game at the Nou Camp stadium was billed as a duel between Atletico's Radamel Falcao and two-time world player of the year Messi.

But Atletico's new striker didn't touch the ball until 30 minutes in, and by then Messi had already followed up David Villa's opener by forcing an own goal by Miranda and adding a third to set Barcelona on its way to its fifth straight home win over the visitors.

Messi then went on to cap the victory with two late goals to pass Ronaldo as the league's top scorer with eight goals.

Also on Saturday, Frederic Kanoute's first-half goal gave nine-man Sevilla a 1-0 win over 10-man Valencia, and Villarreal drew 1-1 at 10-man Athletic Bilbao.

Barcelona and Sevilla moved one point behind Real Betis' 12 points, while Real has 10 along with Valencia.

Real had lapses of concentration against newly promoted Rayo at the Bernabeu.

Miguel "Michu" Perez gave the visitors an early lead before Ronaldo equalized in the 39th and even after Angel di Maria was sent off in the 56th, the hosts added goals from Gonzalo Higuain, Raphael Varane and Karim Benzema. In between Ronaldo scored two penalties.

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