Lionel Messi scored his fifth hat-trick of the season as Barcelona posted a comfortable 4-1 victory at Malaga to keep the gap between themselves and leaders Real Madrid at five points.

Before his hat-trick today Messi had scored just once away from home all season in La Liga, but he showed his intent with the first effort of the game on nine minutes that was deflected just wide.

Soon after, though, it was Valdes who showed his worth with three saves from Isco to keep the champions level. The Spain international firstly tipped the Malaga midfielder’s fine long-range effort wide and, from the resulting corner, got down well to parry Isco’s header before smothering the rebound.