Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Dani
Alves, Piqué, Abidal, Maxwell; Xavi (Afellay 85'), Busquets, Iniesta
(Keita 79'); Pedro (Bojan 85'), Messi, David Villa. 4-3-3.
Atlético: De Gea; Valera, Ujfalusi, Godín,
Antonio López; Paulo Assunçao (Koke 56'), Tiago; Reyes, Fran
Mérida (Diego Forlán 46'), Filipe Luis (Elias 75'); Agüero.
4-2-3-1.
Goals:
1-0. 17. Messi. Picked up ball on right of area and
cut across area to score.
2-0. 28. Messi. Won ball back off Antonio
López and fired shot past De Gea.
3-0. 79. Messi. Bundled ball in to
net after David Villa cross deflected to him.
Yellow cards: Ujfalusi 28', Dani Alves 44', Messi 67', Tiago 67'. Valera 88'.
Barcelona made it an all-time league record of sixteen wins on the trot after beating Atlético Madrid 3-0 on Saturday evening. Guardiola's side had equalled the previous record set by Di Stéfano's Real Madrid last week, and with just over a quarter of an hour gone they went ahead when Leo Messi picked up the ball outside of the area and cut across to fire a shot wide of De Gea. Villa and Messi both went close soon afterwards, and Pedro brought a good save out of the keeper before Messi scored his second, Antonio López's attempted clearance from Villa's pass only allowing the Argentinian forward to win the ball back and clip a shot in off the post.
For a few minutes Atleti started to come back, Tiago having a goal ruled out just before the break following a free kick which the referee considered to be taken too quickly, and Filipe Luis seeing his shot headed off the line by Piqué soon after the restart. But Messi and Pedro both could have increased the lead before Messi completed his fourth hat-trick of the season after Villa's cross fell to him in front of goal, taking his side ten points clear of Real Madrid pending their game on Sunday.