Barcelona 5-0 Atletico Madrid: Marvellous Messi fires hat-trick as Guardiola's side smash visitors

Barcelona and Lionel Messi were in thrilling form as they thumped Atletico Madrid 5-0 at Camp Nou to return to winning ways.

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The Argentine attacker scored a hat-trick, and further efforts from David Villa and a Miranda own goal sealed an excellent evening's work for the Catalan giants.

The home side began the match without defenders Carles Puyol or Gerard Pique, along with Alexis Sanchez and Andres Iniesta who are both injured. However, it was Atletico Madrid who threatened early as Tiago's fourth-minute shot beat Victor Valdes but was denied by the crossbar. 

Barcelona didn't take long to break through, though, and took the lead in the ninth minute through David Villa. The Spanish international brought the ball down on the left side of the penalty area and tucked his shot into the bottom right corner after cutting inside.

The home side netted their second only six minutes later, after Lionel Messi attempted to touch the ball past the keeper, resulting in a deflection off the knee of Atletico defender Miranda.

Barca continued to dominate the game with a flourish of runs and passes and Messi grabbed his first of the night in the 26th minute. A throw-in resulted in Messi dashing towards goal on the left side, beating a defender, and placing the ball in the bottom corner of the net.

Cesc Fabregas nearly struck a glorious goal in the 41st minute, after an attempted chip over the Atletico keeper Thibaut Courtois from just outside the box, but the ball grazed the crossbar and went over.

The second half began in similar fashion; in the 53rd minute, Fabregas fed the ball to Messi in the box only for the Belgian keeper to make another save.

Barcelona grabbed their fourth of the night after a moment of brilliance from Messi who received the ball from Dani Alves on the right, and strolled past three Atletico defenders before drilling the ball into the corner past a demoralised Courtois.

The little Argentine then grabbed a hat-trick in stoppage time after making a run down the left and placing the ball between the keeper's legs to complete an excellent night's work and to move the hosts up to second in La Liga.