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. Barcelona stretched its run of consecutive clean sheets to seven games.
Real Madrid remained just four points adrift as Cristiano Ronaldo’s hot scoring streak continued in a 2-0 win at Villarreal. Ronaldo is now onto 13 goals from nine matches this season.
Villarreal attacked well early on at El Madrigal Stadium, as an airplane circled overhead trailing a banner asking Ronaldo to return to former club Manchester United.
But Luka Modric struck from long range in the 32nd minute, and Karim Benzema set up Ronaldo for his league-leading 10th goal in the 40th.
Madrid has outscored its opponents 20-4 in its last four games in all competitions, with Ronaldo scoring nine times in that span.
The results:
Barcelona 6 (Neymar 26, 45, 65; Rakitic 42, Messi 61, 81) bt Granada 0.
Villarreal 0 lost to Real Madrid 2 (Modric 32, Ronaldo 40).
On Friday: Elche 0 lost to Celta Vigo 1 (Nolito 90).
