Barca run riot
Neymar scored a hat-trick and Lionel Messi got his 400th career goal as Barcelona stormed back to the top of La Liga with a 6-0 thrashing of Granada on Saturday.
Real Madrid remained just four points adrift of the leaders as Cristiano Ronaldo's hot scoring streak continued in a 2-0 win at Villarreal.
Barca stretched their run of consecutive clean sheets to seven games, but rediscovered their scoring touch after being held to a 0-0 draw at Malaga in midweek as Messi and Neymar shone.
The Brazilian opened the scoring with a deflected effort before Messi provided the second with an inch-perfect cross for Ivan Rakitic to head home.
Neymar made it three just before half-time and Messi registered his 400th goal for club and country with a simple header from Dani Alves's cross.
The two then combined as Messi squared for Neymar to complete his hat-trick before the Argentine rounded off the scoring himself nine minutes from time.
Barca boss Luis Enrique had changed his entire defence from the one that started in midweek and the hosts were nearly punished for a slow start as Youssef El-Arabi clipped the bar.
However, Barca were soon into their stride and, after Munir El Haddadi had miscued when presented with an open goal, they took the lead on 26 minutes as Neymar was gifted the ball inside the Granada half and surged forward before seeing his effort deflect pass the helpless Roberto via Jean-Sylvain Babin.
Messi then increased his number of assists already this season to seven as he crossed right-footed for Rakitic to head home and Neymar tapped into an empty net to make it 3-0 after Roberto had denied Munir.
Barca continued to dominate after the break and Alves provided Messi with the kind of service he has been handing out in recent weeks with a fine cross that the four-time World Player of the Year headed home.
And the Argentine rounded off a fine afternoon by robbing the Granada defence of possession and running through to slot home his fifth goal of the season.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, is now onto 13 goals from nine matches this season as Real won for the third consecutive league match at Villarreal.
Real survived an early onslaught from Villarreal and won the game with two goals in eight minutes before the break as Luka Modric drilled home the opener before Ronaldo converted from Karim Benzema's pass to register his eighth goal in a week.
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