Football Focus Highlight

Lionel Messi kept Barcelona on top of Spain's Primera Division with a hat-trick in a 5-0 win at Tenerife on Sunday and Real Madrid had kept up the pressure with a 2-0 home win over Real Mallorca.

Champions Barca, two points clear of Real with 43 from 17 games, had goalkeeper Victor Valdes to thank for setting up their first win of 2010.

Valdes saved three one-on-ones in the early stages, the first deflecting on to the crossbar, before Barca found any kind of rhythm in the face of frenetic pressuring from their hosts.



Bojan Krkic, in for the suspended Zlatan Ibrahimovic, set up Messi for the opener in the 36th minute and Carles Puyol headed the second from a Messi free kick in the 44th.

Messi poked in the third after excellent approach play from Andres Iniesta and Krkic, the Argentine lobbed the fourth, his 12th of the campaign, from outside the area in the 75th and defender Ezequiel Luna scored an own goal to complete the rout.

Source: english.aljazeera.net