Messi scored twice and created goals for Arturo Vidal and Luis Suarez as champions Barca moved top of the table with 22 points from 10 matches.
Real's Cristiano Ronaldo will be going in search of his third consecutive World Player of the Year award
Chile qualified for the Copa America final after two goals from Eduardo Vargas gave them a 2-1 win over Peru in an action-packed semi-final marked by another controversial refereeing decision.
Luis Suarez had been told by new Barca coach Ronald Koeman that he was not in his plans for next season.
The Colombian forward is heading to Italian champions Juventus on loan.
Barca lead the standings on 39 points from 18 games, three clear of second-placed Real Madrid who host Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane made up for the absence of Sergio Ramos by scoring one goal and making another to help his side to a hard-fought 3-0 win at Getafe. La Liga leaders Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw at struggling Espanyol on Saturday as China striker Wu Lei came off the bench to grab a late equaliser in a pulsating city derby.
Arturo Vidal's double helped Juventus to their 12th straight league win with a 4-2 triumph over Sampdoria and saw the Italian champions restore an eight-point lead at the top of Serie A.
Manchester City's Premier League home match against Arsenal has been postponed because players from the London club have had contact with the owner of Greek side Olympiakos Piraeus, who has contracted the coronavirus. Meanwhile La Liga matches will be played without fans for at least the next two rounds of fixtures to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the Spanish league said.
Juventus shattered Real Madrid's dream of a record-extending 11th European crown when Alvaro Morata scored against his former club to secure a 1-1 Champions League draw with the holders on Wednesday and send Juve into the final 3-2 on aggregate.
Argentina and Chile advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa America on Saturday with Chile beating Mexico 7-0 and Lionel Messi getting a goal in Argentina's 4-1 win over Venezuela to equal his country's all-time scoring record.
Barcelona gave up more ground to Real Madrid in La Liga's title race on Tuesday after being held to a 2-2 draw at home to third-placed Atletico Madrid as a late penalty from Saul Niguez cancelled out Lionel Messi's 700th career goal. The draw meant the Catalans stayed second in the standings on 70 points and leaders Real Madrid, who have 71, will go four points clear at the top with five games left if they beat Getafe at home on Thursday.
The president of Chile's ANFP national football association Sergio Jadue has resigned from his post and gone to the United States to talk to the FBI about corruption at football governing body FIFA, local media reported on Wednesday.
Images from Copa America matches played on Monday.
Liverpool stuttered into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 2-1 aggregate win over Inter Milan after suffering a 1-0 loss to the Italian side, who were reduced to 10 men, at Anfield on Tuesday.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller scored in each half as the Bundesliga leaders beat Werder Bremen 2-0 on Tuesday to reach the German Cup final and stay firmly on course for a treble of titles this season.
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Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller scored twice, including a 71st- minute bicycle kick, to given the Bundesliga leaders a 3-1 victory over Darmstadt 98 on Saturday and lift them 11 points clear at the top of the table.
Brazil required an untidy second half goal from Roberto Firmino to beat Venezuela 1-0 and extend their 100% record to three wins from three in a lacklustre World Cup qualifier in Sao Paulo on Friday.
Barcelona fell to a first home defeat in any competition for more than two years
James Rodriguez struck in the second half to give Colombia a 1-1 draw away against Chile in 2018 World Cup qualifying on Thursday as the hosts dropped their first points of the South American campaign.
Brazilian Douglas Costa was in fine form as Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 1-0 in a pre-season tournament.
World champions France had eight players, one less than former holders Spain, in international players' association FIFPro's 55-name shortlist for its World XI of 2018 award.
Argentina are odds-on favourites to win the Copa America for the first time since 1993 by beating Chile in Saturday's final.
Messi was Argentina's key man in their 1-0 win.
Juventus landed a fourth successive Serie A crown, and their first under coach Massimiliano Allegri, with four games to spare by winning 1-0 at Sampdoria on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Bolivia beat Venezuela 3-1 at home and Uruguay and Paraguay drew 0-0 in Montevideo.
'They were better than us for some spells and we know what awaits us over there' Valverde pointed to his team's sensational exit from last year's competition to AS Roma after a 4-1 cushion from the first leg and said they would be taking nothing for granted in Tuesday's return game at Anfield.
Barcelona have one hand firmly on the La Liga title after winning 2-0 at Alaves on Tuesday, leaving them 12 points clear at the top of the table with four games to play.
Earlier in the night, Bolivia were denied their first win when Kaku scored with 18 minutes remaining to rescue a 2-2 draw for home side Paraguay in Asuncion.
Bayern Munich booked their fifth successive Champions League semi-final spot with a 2-2 draw at Benfica on Wednesday to seal a 3-2 aggregate victory that kept the Germans on course for a treble of titles.
Champions Bayern Munich comfortably beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday to lay down a marker as they eye a record-extending sixth straight German league title.
After an even first 45 minutes, strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder stunned the Catalans and left them needing a second-leg comeback at the Nou Camp for the second consecutive round in the competition.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo may be on course for his worst domestic goal haul since 2010 but with two strikes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday he became the first player to score 100 goals in UEFA competitions.
Lionel Messi came off the bench to score a hat-trick in just 18 minutes on Friday as Argentina hammered Panama 5-0 and eased into the quarter-finals of the Copa America.
The past week saw a lot of brilliance in sports. It started with Juventus and Barcelona lighting up the Champions League with their inspiring football and, later in the week, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg stoked the F1 circuit in Spain, capping a brilliant win to cut teammate Lewis Hamilton's lead to 20 points. Rediff.com has this, and many more memorable moments snapped right here.
Images from the La Liga match played between FC Barcelona and Sevilla on at Camp Nou on Sunday
Lionel Messi scored a record eighth Champions League hat-trick as Barcelona kick-started their campaign with a 4-0 home win over PSV Eindhoven, although they had defender Samuel Umtiti sent off late in the second half on Tuesday.
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A dramatic game featured missed chances, defensive howlers, scuffles and two video reviews, one producing a highly controversial outcome in the second half.
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