Lionel Messi netted a first-half hat-trick as Barcelona extended their winning start to their La Liga title defence with an action-packed 3-2 win at Valencia.
Real Madrid also racked up a maximum nine points when they beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the Bernabéu and Atlético Madrid made it three wins in three with a 2-1 win at Real Sociedad.
Barça were cruising after Messi struck in the 10th and 39th minutes from Cesc Fábregas assists before Neymar set the Argentinian up for his third in the 41st.
Valencia stormed back with two goals from Helder Postiga, including an acrobatic volley, Messi uncharacteristically squandered three golden opportunities late on and the goalkeeper Victor Valdés saved Barcelona with a fingertip save on to the post from a Jonas effort.
"We let them back into the game but we were strong enough at the end to hold on for the win," the Barça playmaker, Andrés Iniesta, said.
"It's about continuing to improve. We are just at the start of the season. It's logical that we need to aim higher and the sooner we can find our optimum level and stay there for an extended time the better."
It was the third treble before half-time of Messi's career and at the age of only 26 he is now the sixth highest scorer in La Liga with 220 goals, surpassing Quini's 219 and closing in on the record of 251 held by Telmo Zarra.
Isco struck twice and Cristiano Ronaldo netted his first goal of the campaign to give victory to a Luka Modric-inspired Real. They have now put 22 goals past Bilbao in their last four league meetings in the capital.
After a subdued start Karim Benzema dinked a pass through to Isco in the 26th minute and the Spain playmaker, who joined from Málaga in the close season, drilled a shot past the Bilbao goalkeeper Iago Herrerin. Ronaldo powered home a header from Angel di María's free-kick moments before half-time for his 202nd goal in 202 official games for Real.
Bilbao threatened a comeback on a couple of occasions before Isco picked up another assist from Benzema, again whistled by the home crowd after fluffing a number of chances, and the 21-year-old found the net with a fine 72nd-minute strike.
Ibai Gómez made the scoreline more respectable for the visitors when he clipped the ball past Diego López in the 79th minute.
"Things are going well for me," Isco said. "Three wins in three is the right path to follow to make it a good year for us. We want to keep improving little by little and aspire to win all the competitions we are taking part in."(The Guardian)
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