Messi scores four as Barcelona demolish Osasuna 5-1

Barcelona: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo warmed up for their teams' upcoming Copa del Rey clash with high-scoring displays on Sunday to help Barcelona and Real Madrid cruise to comfortable wins against helpless Spanish league opponents. After Ronaldo hit his 20th career hat trick in an 11-minute span to help Real rout Getafe 4-0, an insatiable Messi did him one better by netting four times in Barcelona's 5-1 thrashing of 10-man Osasuna.

Messi is on pace to break his own Spanish league record of 50 goals from last season. The 25-year-old forward leads the league with 33 goals in 21 rounds, chased by Ronaldo on 21. Barcelona maintained the 15-point difference with Madrid, and opened up an 11-point gap over Atletico Madrid before their visit to Athletic Bilbao later.

Real host Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday. With the "clasico" looming, there had been speculation that perhaps Messi would sit out Sunday's game at Camp Nou.

Instead, Messi stormed to his fourth career four-goal game. He scored five times in a single Champions League match last season. Messi's first came in the 11th, when Xavi Hernandez intercepted goalkeeper Andres Fernandez's pass and found the Argentine forward, who brought the keeper to the ground with the subtlest of feints before rolling the ball home. That extended Messi's scoring streak to his last 16 starts.

Midfielder Raoul Loe surprisingly leveled for Osasuna in the 24th, but the visitors' celebration was short lived. Defender Alejandro Arribas received his second booking for blocking Adriano's strike with his arm, leaving his team with 10 men and Messi walking up to the penalty spot. Messi slotted the ball just inside the post to restore Barcelona's lead for good in the 27th.

The penalty was Messi's 200th career Spanish league goal, making him the eighth player to reach that mark. After Messi had hit the post with header, Pedro Rodriguez finished off a pass from Dani Alves to make it 3-1 in the 40th from move again started by Xavi.

David Villa then participated in Messi's goals in the 56th and 58th, first working a one-two combination with the four-time world player of the year for him to score from an angle. Villa then made a back pass that Adriano sent on to Messi, who tapped in his fourth goal of the night.