Messi chips the keeper for his 4th.

Lionel Messi produced another dazzling display as Barcelona came from behind to defeat Valencia, while Athletic Bilbao beat Malaga and Atletico Madrid were held by Sporting Gijon.

Messi was in irresistible form with four goals for Barcelona in their 5-1 victory over third-placed Valencia.

Valencia silenced the Camp Nou faithful by taking the lead inside ten minutes, with Pablo Piatti taking advantage of uncertainty in the Barca defence to provide the finish to Sofiane Feghouli’s right-wing cross.

Messi drew Barca level midway through the first half when he reacted quickly to a loose ball to fire a shot underneath goalkeeper Diego Alves from a tight angle.

The Argentine superstar showed his sharpness again six minutes later to put Barcelona in front as he scooped the ball into the roof of the net from close range after Alves had kept out his initial effort.

A series of fine saves from Alves, as well as the woodwork, kept Valencia in with a chance until Messi completed his hat-trick in the 76th minute with a neat finish on the rebound after Cristian Tello had been denies.

There was still time for Messi to race clear of the visiting defence and chip home for a fourth, and then for Xavi to dink in a fifth, to leave Barca ten points behind fierce rivals Real Madrid at the top of the table.

10 Years ago, Lionel Messi received his first registration card for the Spanish Federation.

Barcelona took control of their Uefa Champions League second-round tie with Bayer Leverkusen following a 3-1 win in Germany.

Drab opening

The result was a fairly drab opening, with a Dani Alves free-kick, sent waywardly over the bar, the sole chance in the opening quarter of an hour.

Daniel Schwaab made a fine intervention to prevent Messi nipping in for an easy close-range chance, before Adriano curled a shot well wide from the left channel with openings hard to come by.

Andre Schurrle fluffed Leverkusen’s only half-chance of the first 45 minutes, totally miskicking when the ball sat up invitingly on the edge of the area.

Messi was doing his best to wriggle through the Leverkusen defence, but could not get enough power on a shot through Schwaab’s legs from a difficult angle.

However, the Argentinian was the provider for the opening goal, flicking a pass over the defence that had Alexis and Cesc Fabregas scampering after it.

Alexis won the debate between the two and slipped it through the legs of the advancing Bernd Leno and into the bottom corner.

Positive restart
With their containment strategy undone, Leverkusen looked much more positive to start the second half, with Manuel Friedrich having an early chance when Puyol’s header fell for him at the far post, but he could not stretch far enough to turn it goalwards.

They were level in the 52nd minute as Vedran Corluka was allowed the time to cross from a tight position, standing the ball up for Kadlec to head in.

But parity lasted only four minutes before Alexis got his second, latching on to a wonderful threaded ball from Fabregas to round the goalkeeper and finish.

Moments later, a defensive mix-up gave Renato Augusto another chance for the hosts, but his shot was straight at Victor Valdes.

Then, in the 64th minute, Castro raced onto the ball and powered a low shot at goal, but Valdes tipped it onto the post.

Messi was the next to find the woodwork, racing in from the right wing and then dinking a shot over the onrushing Leno from a tight angle, only to see it come back off the upright.

Leverkusen introduced Stefan Kiessling from the bench and he almost had an immediate impact, stooping to head Castro’s curling cross goalwards and forcing Valdes into a good save on the line.

Leno was then called on to make a fine save and deny Alexis a hat-trick as he sent a diving header goalwards.

But Barca got what could be a killer third goal two minutes from time, with Messi the creator and finisher as he slipped Dani Alves through and the Brazilian selflessly squared for the Argentinian to find the net with an aerial volley.

Argentina’s Spanish club influence was completed by Angel Di Maria setting up two of the goals for his Real Madrid teammate Higuain. “It was important to get off on the right foot and we did just that,” said Higuain. I liked a lot of what we did tonight. Now we have to keep this up.”

The 1978 and 1986 world champions, rebuilding after a poor Copa America which saw them exit in the quarter-final, were ahead after eight minutes at Buenos Aires’ Estadio Monumental where they haven’t lost a World Cup game for 18 years. Di Maria slipped in a pass to Higuain who drove the ball high into the net past Claudio Bravo in the Chile goal. Messi then scored his 18th international goal in his 63rd appearance in the 26th minute when he was released by a fine pass from Higuain before beating Bravo with a low shot from the edge of the box.

Chile, who were without key players Alexis Sanchez and Gary Medel through injury, came close to cutting the deficit in the 42nd minute when Humberto Suazo was unfortunate to see his effort deflected wide by the foot of Pablo Zabaleta. Di Maria set-up the third for Argentina in the 51st minute when he found Higuain with a smart cross which his Real Madrid teammate converted with a shot on the turn. Nine minutes later Matias Fernandez pulled one back for Chile before Messi teed-up Higuain for a his hat-trick in the 63rd minute after a poor Bravo clearance.

The Spanish champions took the lead on 19 minutes when a Dani Alves cross from the right was not dealt with by Egor Filipenko and Alyaksandr Volodko turned the ball into his own net at the back post under pressure from Messi. Three minutes later and it was 2-0 when Pedro stole a march on a rather static Maksim Bordachev to head home a left-wing David Villa cross.

BATE had set their stall out to defend in numbers, with every man back behind the ball except lone striker Mateja Kezman. Serbian international Kezman’s task was a thankless one, and the former PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain player cut an isolated figure up front as his teammates tried unsuccessfully to soak up the pressure and hit on the break.

Villa saw two efforts well saved by Alyaksandr Gutor before the BATE goalkeeper gifted a third goal to Messi. Pedro’s cross from the right should have been a routine catch, but he contrived to drop the ball right on to the head of Messi, who will probably never score an easier goal in the Champions League. The pattern of the game remained much the same after the restart, and Messi got the goal that brought him level with Kubala on 55 minutes, exchanging passes with Alves before beating Gutor wit
h an unstoppable shot from just inside the area.

It was his 14th goal of this season alone, and that looked to be that until Villa added his name to the scoresheet, making it 5-0 in the last minute. The former Valencia man had been penalised for offside, but BATE made a complete mess of the resulting free-kick, gifting possession straight back to Villa, who finished past a drenched and thoroughly depressed Gutor.

Messi has said he is looking to surpass Cesar Rodriguez’s scoring record for Barcelona, and while Villa played down individual feats, he noted that the diminutive forward is in a league of his own. “Messi does incredible things,” Villa told reporters. “His stats make you cover your eyes. He cannot be compared to anyone. We are delighted.” The 29-year-old Villa, who has scored five goals in all competitions this season, stressed he is happy with life at Camp Nou. “Being at this club is a symptom of happiness,” Villa said. “I am very happy both on and off the field and I hope to stay here for many more years.” “I am not used to being a substitute, but in the dressing room there are 15 or 16 players who are not used to it either.”

Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has highlighted similarities between Robin van Persie and Barcelona star Lionel Messi, following the former’s latest brace for Arsenal.

“I see similarities, positional-wise, with Messi,” said Wenger. “He likes to come deep and he likes to turn up, up front. Don’t make me make a comparison with Messi but it is just that positional-wise he is not really like the real centre forward.

“I must thank my colleagues,” he told AS. “We have shown that when we play well, we enjoy our football. “It was a difficult game as Atletico came and stood their ground well,” he continued. “They possess a great team, and earned our respect from the first minute, but the goal put the game in our favour and we quickly took control.”

The Argentine also closed into within two goals of catching legendary Hungarian striker Laszi Kubala, who scored 194 goals in total.Speaking to BarcaTV, Messi said “I’m pretty calm about it. I just take it a game at a time, but obviously I’m very excited about becoming top scorer. Many years have gone by and it’s still the same player [referring to Kubala]. Hopefully I can beat his stats. I want to continue breaking records here”.

“We have to take it all bit by bit, without thinking about milestones. I think the most important thing for this team is to keep winning, and keep winning titles for us and the fans. This is far more important than any individual prize or statistic”

Messi admits that they still have to adapt to the 3-4-3 system that Guardiola has used recently, but he’s pretty excited about it: “We feel pretty comfortable with it. There are some things we still aren’t doing well, just like with the previous system, but that’s OK. It takes time and practice. We still aren’t totally used to it. Personally I’m pretty happy, because up front we have more space and we can link up better with the midfield players, and receive more passes”.

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