Newly-crowned World Player of the Year Lionel Messi had to be withdrawn at half-time with a hamstring problem as Luis Suarez's hat trick led Barcelona to a 6-0 thrashing of 10-man Athletic Bilbao Sunday. Real Madrid remained two points behind Barca as Zinedine Zidane's dream start to life as boss continued as Los Blancos scored four times in the opening 18 minutes on their way to a 5-1 rout of Sporting Gijon. However, Zidane's joy was also tempered by an injury to Gareth Bale. Atletico Madrid stayed a point clear at the top thanks to Antoine Griezmann's double in a 3-0 victory at Las Palmas. Messi paraded his record fifth Ballon d'Or before kickoff and the game at the Camp Nou barely lasted three minutes as a contest. Suarez was brought down as he rounded Gorka Iraizoz and the Athletic goalkeeper was shown a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. Messi converted the resulting spot-kick and Suarez was also heavily involved for the second as he played in Neymar to dink his 19th goal of the season past substitute keeper Iago Herrerin. Messi wasn't risked for the second-half after feeling a hamstring strain. However, the Argentine wasn't missed as brilliant play from Neymar teed up Suarez and Ivan Rakitic to make it 4-0. Suarez rounded off the scoring with two more to move out in front as La Liga's top-scorer with 18. Real Madrid's victory was overshadowed by what looked like the recurrence of a calf problem for Bale that kept him out for a month earlier this season after he scored his 11th goal in eight games. Madrid has now scored 35 goals in six games at home since losing 4-0 to Barcelona in November. Atletico maintained its title challenge as a rock-solid defensive display and Griezmann's goals were the keys again for Diego Simeone's men. Jan Oblak ensured a 14th clean sheet in 20 games this season with two vital early saves before Filipe Luis fired home his first goal since returning to the club in July to give the visitors a half-time lead. And with Las Palmas pushing for an equalizer, Koke played in Griezmann twice to finish in the final quarter to take his tally for the season to 18. Gary Neville's winless streak as Valencia boss in La Liga stretched to six games in a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to relegation threatened Rayo Vallecano. Valencia twice had to come from behind as Alvaro Negredo's sensational strike from just inside the Rayo half and Paco Alcacer's late equalizer canceled out goals from Jozabed and Diego Llorente for Rayo. Monaco goes 2nd In Paris, Monaco moved up to second place in the French league after winning 2-0 at Lorient Sunday, with both goals coming in an improved second-half performance. Monaco is two points ahead of third-place Angers but trails runaway league leader Paris Saint-Germain by a massive 21 points. PSG won 1-0 at Toulouse Saturday thanks to a late header from Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Saint-Etienne climbed to fifth spot with a hard-fought 1-0 win against bitter local rival Lyon. The defeat leaves Lyon in ninth place, one spot behind Marseille — which earlier secured a much-needed 3-1 win away to Normandy side Caen. — Agencies
