Messi leads Barca to 7-1 victory over Osasuna

AP, Madrid :
While Lionel Messi helped Barcelona to trounce Osasuna 7-1, Cristiano Ronaldo was rested by title rival Real Madrid in its 6-2 rout of Deportivo La Coruna in the Spanish league on Wednesday.
Barcelona and Madrid remain level on 78 points at the top of the standings after their comfortable victories, keeping the title race wide open.
Barcelona is ahead on the head-to-head tiebreaker, but the two-time defending champion only has four games left, while Madrid – seeking its first league title since 2012 – has five to play.
Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane rested Ronaldo and several other regular starters in La Coruna, with a great performance by Francisco “Isco” Alarcon and two goals by James Rodriguez helping the team to victory.
At the Camp Nou, Messi followed up his remarkable performance in the “clasico” against Madrid with another two goals on Wednesday. Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer also scored twice for Barcelona, and Javier Mascherano netted his first goal with the Catalan club to complete the rout.
Messi’s second goal at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday was a last-minute winner that gave him 500 career goals with Barcelona, and he was honored for the milestone before the Osasuna game, with a huge banner displayed on the stands with the words “Thank you Leo.”