MADRID — Lionel Messi notched up his 35th league goal of the season as an understrength Barcelona strolled to a crushing 6-1 win at home over Getafe that put it 12 points clear at the top of La Liga Sunday. Alexis Sanchez and David Villa made the most of a rare place in the starting lineup with goals either side of Messi's strike and Andres Iniesta, Cristian Tello and Gerard Pique were also on the scoresheet as Barca racked up a 20th victory in 23 matches this term to move on to 62 points. Atletico Madrid has 50 points in second place ahead of its game at Rayo Vallecano later Sunday, four ahead of third-placed Real Madrid, which thrashed Sevilla 4-1 at the Bernabeu Saturday. Barca's interim coach Jordi Roura, standing in for Tito Vilanova who is recovering from throat surgery, rested several key players for Getafe's visit to the Nou Camp, including Spain trio Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets. Alexis struck in the sixth minute, Messi made it 2-0 seven minutes later and Villa put the game well beyond Getafe, which is 12th on 29 points, with a third just before the hour. Messi surged forward and laid the ball off for substitute Tello to curl in a fourth 11 minutes from time before a mistake from Jordi Alba let in Alvaro Vazquez to pull a goal back for the visitors in the 83rd minute. Iniesta picked up a loose ball and fired in from close range in the 90th and Pique rounded off the party in the second minute of added time with a tap-in from Thiago Alcantara's unselfish layoff. On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid prime its attack for its highly anticipated Champions League clash with Manchester United by scoring his 21st career hat trick in a 4-1 home win over Sevilla. After a defensive blunder let Karim Benzema open for Madrid 18 minutes in, Ronaldo unleashed an unstoppable strike to double the advantage in the 26th. The former Manchester star then went on to find the back of the net twice more after halftime. Ronaldo did his best to make amends for his own goal that cost Madrid a loss at Granada in the last round with his 22nd, 23rd and 24th goals in the league this season. Only Barcelona's Lionel Messi, with 34, has scored more. Also, substitute Nelson Valdez scored in stoppage time to give Valencia a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo just three days before its Champions League series with Paris Saint-Germain. Elsewhere, Francisco “Isco” Alarcon netted two times to lead Malaga back to a 2-1 victory at Levante, while defender Geromel also scored after 90 minutes to give Mallorca a 1-1 draw with Osasuna and salvage coach Gregorio Manzano's return. — Agencies
