Real Madrid and Barcelona continue their charge at the top of La Liga

Real Madrid 3-1 Sporting Gijon

Real Madrid continued their perfect home record on Saturday - but they were given a scare by Sporting Gijon before winning 3-1.

Madrid produced little of note during a disappointing first half and a shock looked on the cards when the mid-table visitors took a 53rd-minute lead through David Barral.

However, that goal served to spark Madrid into life and within four minutes they were 2-1 ahead thanks to strikes from Rafael van der Vaart and Xabi Alonso.

Gonzalo Higuain then slotted home his 20th goal of the season in the 68th minute as Madrid made it 14 league wins out of 14 at the Bernabeu this term.

Real Zaragoza 2-4 Barcelona

Lionel Messi continued his remarkable goalscoring form with a hat-trick as Barcelona moved level once more with Real Madrid at the Primera Liga summit with a 4-2 victory at Real Zaragoza.

The Argentina winger, who also scored a hat-trick in his last league match against Valencia, opened the scoring with a header after five minutes and added two more after the break to send his side 3-0 ahead.

Valencia 2-0 Almeria

Second-half goals from Spain internationals Juan Mata and David Silva fired Champions League-chasing Valencia to a 2-0 victory over Almeria on Sunday.

Real Mallorca 4-1 Atletico Madrid

Real Mallorca continued their sensational home form this season as they thrashed 10-man Atletico Madrid 4-1 to climb into the top four with 11 games remaining.

Spanish Liga BBVA Top Six Standings

Team        Pl  W D L  Fr Ag Pts 
Real Madrid 27 22 2 3  74:22  68 
Barcelona   27 21 5 1  68:18  68 
Valencia    27 14 8 5  44:29  50 
Mallorca    27 14 4 9  45:32  46 
Sevilla     27 13 5 9  39:31  44 
Ath. Bilbao 27 12 6 9  36:32  42