Barcelona pulled six points clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga when Lionel Messi netted his seventh double of the campaign and set up Alex Song to open his account for the club in a 3-1 success at home to Real Zaragoza on Saturday.
Following is a factbox detailing a selection of key moments in Lionel Messi's Barcelona career.
Lionel Messi's stunning hat-trick set a Barcelona scoring record of 234 goals as the La Liga champions won an action-packed home game against Granada 5-3 to close within five points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Real Madrid equalled a Spanish record of 39 games unbeaten in all competitions by crushing struggling Granada 5-0 on Saturday to go six points clear at the top of La Liga.
Luis Suarez has progressed from his impressive debut La Liga campaign to produce the most prolific season of his career and fire Barcelona to a second straight title, free of the stigma of his ban for biting which accompanied him to Spain in 2014. It was fitting that the Uruguayan should score a hat-trick in the comfortable 3-0 victory at Granada on Saturday to clinch the title, taking his tally to 40 goals in 35 games. He is the first player other than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to finish as La Liga top scorer since 2009 but his contribution to Barca's title triumph goes beyond his goals and 16 assists. For Suarez is the hardest working of the feted 'MSN' partnership he forms with Messi and Neymar, a trio who have delivered 90 of Barcelona's 112 league goals. He is also the most willing to close down opponents and run into space and, naturally, he has shown himself to be the player who is keenest to throw himself into any physical battle.
Barcelona slipped five points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid when Alvaro Vazquez netted a shock late equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw for Espanyol in the Catalan derby on Sunday.
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique fears his side's shock elimination from the Champions League could disturb their bid to retain the La Liga title as they host Valencia on Sunday looking for a first win in four league games.
A sloppy Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home to Real Betis on Saturday in a further blow to their hopes of retaining the La Liga title.
Belgian league leaders Antwerp secured a shock 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 23 games as they won 3-0 against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday, while Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 win over Dundalk.
Mughal Garden opens for public from February 13.
A summary of Saturday's action in Serie A and La Liga.
Cesc Fabregas has returned to training as the Barcelona midfielder continues his recovery from a knee injury, the La Liga leaders said on Monday.
They may have been hitting the bulls eyes often in recent years but Indian shooters will still have their task cut out when they take to the range for the 51st World Championships starting in Granada, Spain on Monday, eyeing as many Olympic quotas as possible.
Roma teenager Afena-Gyan plays down apparent racist remark.
Former Sevilla coach Joaquin Caparros and current Granada manager Paco Jemez both said earlier on Thursday that they were interested in the position if Del Bosque was to leave.
According to the study by Spains University of Granada, people who talk out loud to think through their maths problems are able to solve them faster and have more chance of getting the right answer.
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga and Ligue 1.
Spain midfielder Pedro has no regrets over leaving Barcelona in search of more playing time, despite failing to nail down a regular starting berth in his debut season at Chelsea. Consigned to life on the fringes of the starting side at the Nou Camp, Pedro joined the Blues in August and scored seven goals in 29 Premier League appearances as he struggled to adapt to life in England. Chelsea mounted a dismal defence of their title this season, finishing 31 points behind winners Leicester City in 10th place, while serial champions Barcelona won their sixth La Liga title in eight years when they beat Granada 3-0 on Saturday.
Barcelona followed up last weekend's 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid with another reverse on Saturday, squandering a host of chances to lose 1-0 at home to Celta Vigo and handing the lead in La Liga to their arch rivals.
Diego Costa continued his rich vein of form as he helped leaders Chelsea to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa while Louis van Gaal enjoyed only his second Premier League win as Manchester United manager following a 2-1 victory against West Ham.
Champions Barcelona came through a gruelling La Liga test at a rainswept San Mames on Sunday, beating Athletic Bilbao 1-0 thanks to Ivan Rakitic's first-half header.
Atletico Madrid kept pace with leaders Barcelona and restored their five-point lead over third-placed city rivals Real when Diego Costa and David Villa each scored a penalty in a 2-1 win at Granada in La Liga on Thursday.
Gagan Narang on Friday won the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in US, earning himself a quota place for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Like Chelsea, the humble Hertfordshire club, whose only season in European football was 35 years ago, completed their third victory from three games on Sunday, when they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to add to victories over Brighton and Burnley.
Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang shrugged off his Beijing Olympics' disappointment and set a new world record en route to winning the gold in the 10m air rifle event in the World Cup finals in Bangkok on Wednesday. Narang scored 703.5 -- a perfect 600 in the qualifying and 103.5 in the final -- to break Austria's Farnik Thomas's record, set in the 2006 World Cup final in Granada, Spain.
Paris St Germain are sweating over striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic's fitness as the French champions look fragile ahead of Barcelona's visit in Champions League Group F on Tuesday.
Real Madrid's 5-0 thrashing of Granada on Saturday equalled a Spanish record of 39 games unbeaten in all competitions. Reuters Sport takes a look at the factors behind their run.
India's biggest medal hope Jitu Rai got a wake-up call when he finished eighth in the finals as the much-fancied shooters drew a blank in the pistol events at the Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday.
Images from La Liga matches played on Sunday
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1.
India's top paddler upset world number 24 Zoran Primorac of Croatia in the Spanish League tie.
71-year-old Sven-Goran Eriksson won 18 trophies with various clubs in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, between 1979 and 2000, and became the first manager to win league-and-cup doubles in three countries.
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi scored two goals and set up two more as the Catalans thrashed Real Valladolid 5-1 to move top of La Liga on Tuesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his first five-goal haul in Real Madrid's 9-1 hammering of Granada while title-chasing Bayern Munich and Chelsea won again in Germany and England.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Luis Suarez could become Barcelona's highest scoring Uruguayan in Saturday's La Liga match at Granada, having equalled in only two seasons what compatriot Ramon Alberto Villaverde Vazquez aggregated in his decade-long stint with the club.
Gary Neville was sacked as Valencia manager on Wednesday as the club brought an end to his fraught four-month spell in charge after the former England and Manchester United defender had delivered only three league wins.
Real Madrid extended their unbeaten run to 25 matches and rejoined Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga when Jese, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric scored in a 3-0 win at Getafe on Sunday.
It was Messi's 56th converted penalty in La Liga and saw him draw level with Hugo Sanchez as the league's second-top penalty taker, behind record holder Cristiano Ronaldo on 61.
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