Messi's Hat-trick Gifts Barcelona History-Making Record

Barcelona's Lionel Messi (C) attempts to score against Atletico Madrid's goalkeeper David De Gea (L) and Tomas Ujfalusi (R) during their Spanish First Division match in Barcelona, February 5, 2011. [Photo: Xinhua/Reuters]
FC Barcelona made history in Spain this Saturday night as a Leo Messi hat-trick gave them a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Atletico Madrid.
The win was Barcelona's 16th consecutive league triumph, setting a new record for the number of consecutive wins in Spain, beating the previous best of 15 victories, shared by Pep Guardiola's side and the Real Madrid team from the 1960-61 season.
Messi scored after 17 and 28 minutes to put the game under control and finished his hat-trick 10 minutes from time in a match that saw Atletico pay for a lack of first half ambition.
Levante produced the shock of the day with a 1-0 win away to Villarreal. Valdo scored the only goal of the game after 48 minutes to inflict Villarreal's first home defeat of the campaign.
Villarreal never got to grips with a well-organized Levante defense and but for poor finishing the visitors would have won by a greater margin.
Athletic Club Bilbao moved into fifth place with a convincing 3-0 home win over Sporting Gijon. A David Lopez penalty was followed by an excellent goal from Gaizka Toquero and a second half strike from Fernando Llorente in a game in which Athletic's Iker Muniain produced another stunning display.
Espanyol drop to sixth after losing 3-2 in Almeria. Joan Verdu and Alvaro Vazquez scored for Espanyol, but the game was thrown away in a 18 opening spell in which Marcelo Silva, Kala Uche and Hernan Bernadello had put Almeria 3-0 ahead.
Getafe returned to winning ways and Adrian Colunga found the new twice in the 4-1 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna. Miku and Pedro Rios added the remaining goals.
Miguel Flano opened the scoring for Osasuna in their 1-1 draw against Mallorca, but Chori Castro leveled before the break.
Finally Zaragoza maintained their unbeaten run with a 1-1 draw at home to Racing Santander. Christian Fernandez scored first for Racing, but Said Boutahar equalized for the home team before halftime.