Barcelona's Neymar from Brazil celebrates with Lionel Messi from Argentina scoring his side's fifth goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between F.C. Barcelona and Granada C.F. at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014. Photo: Emilio Morenatti, AP
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi scored his 400th and 401st goals for club and country and Neymar hit a hat trick as Barcelona thrashed Granada 6-0 in the Spanish league on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo also found the net for his sixth straight game in Real Madrid's 2-0 win at Villarreal, as Spain's traditional powerhouses warmed up for the Champions League.
Messi's 358th goal for Barcelona, along with 42 for Argentina, came with Barcelona leading 3-0 when he headed in Dani Alves' superb one-touch cross in the 56th minute.
He added No. 359 for the Catalan club in the 82nd to cap the lopsided win.
Neymar opened the scoring in the 25th before Messi continued his playmaking by participating in the Brazil striker's next two goals and assisting Ivan Rakitic.
The win gave Barcelona the provisional league lead. Sevilla can match it on points with a win at defending champion Atletico Madrid later, as can Valencia at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Barcelona heads to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday with more than a finely tuned attack. Its defense hasn't conceded a goal in seven games this season.
After an up-and-down season last year, Messi has returned in fine form from Argentina's defeat in the World Cup final to Germany. The forward has scored or participated in 14 of Barcelona's 18 goals in all competitions.
Already Barcelona's all-time leading scorer, the 27-year-old Messi is closing in on two more milestones. He is four goals from equaling Athletic Bilbao's Telmo Zarra as the Spanish league's all-time leading scorer with 251. And he is four goals from matching Raul Gonzalez's record of 71 goals in the Champions League.
"I don't think that even counting the goals we scored during recess at school we would reach 400," Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. "Watching Leo press on defense and being so generous in attack is a pleasure to watch."
Granada striker Youssef El Arabi hit the crossbar in the visitors' first and best scoring chance in the seventh minute. Joaquin Caparros' team resisted well until midfielder Hector Yuste gifted the ball to Neymar whose shot took a deflection off defender Jean-Sylvain Babin and looped over goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez before bouncing into the net.
Messi set up the second goal by dribbling past two defenders before crossing for Rakitic to score with a glancing header in the 43rd.
Two minutes later, Messi's through ball to Munir El Haddadi led to Roberto charging out to clear the ball, only for it to fall to Neymar who fired into the open net.
Messi found Neymar in the area to slot in his sixth league goal this season in the 66th before the Argentine scored for a second time.
