Lionel Messi bagged four goals as Barcelona battered Valencia 5-1 in La Liga on Sunday, while Athletic Bilbao downed Malaga 3-0.

Messi: Shone in five-star display

Messi's heroics put third-placed Valencia to the sword on a night when Barcelona could have scored a dozen but for the efforts of visiting goalkeeper Diego Alves.

Valencia took a surprise lead through Pablo Piatti in the ninth minute, but Barca's response was composed and clinical as they tore the visiting defence to shreds, producing chance after chance as Messi scored twice before half-time and then twice more in the final 15 minutes.

He then found time to help set up Xavi Hernandez for a fifth in injury time. The 5-1 win leaves Barca 10 points adrift of Primera Division leaders Real Madrid - who won on Saturday night.

A stunning four-minute scoring spree midway through the second half helped Athletic Bilbao down fellow Champions League hopefuls Malaga 3-0 at San Mames.

Substitute Fernando Amorebieta put the home side ahead in the 58th minute and Mikel San Jose and Gaizka Toquero quickly added further goals to settle the contest.

Mallorca ended Villarreal's recent revival in spectacular style with a 4-0 home win. Victor Casadesus (2), Jose Luis Marti and Jose Nunes got the goals.

Goalkeeper Juan Pablo was the hero as Sporting Gijon held on to claim a point in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in Javier Clemente's first game in charge.

Atleti went ahead early on when Adrian Lopez's shot was turned into his own net by Roberto Canella - but Sebastian Eguren equalised 17 minutes later, before Pablo denied the visitors on numerous occasions after the break.

Alhassane Bangoura and Diego Costa both scored twice as Rayo Vallecano inflicted another blow on Levante, who have now lost 13 of 20 games in all competitions after a bright start to the season.

Andrija Delibasic also scored for the visitors in a 5-3 win, while Levante's goals came from Jose Barkero and Ruben Suarez, who scored twice including a last-minute penalty.

In the day's early kick-off, Granada eased their relegation fears with a 4-1 home win over Real Sociedad.

The visitors had taken an early lead through Mikel Gonzalez's header but Inigo Lopez, Franco Jara and Ikechukwu Uche (2) turned things around in a game where Asier Illarramendi was dismissed for Real and Granada defender Guilherme Siqueira followed near the end.