Lionel Messi scored for the sixth straight game to lead FC Barcelona to a 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Messi scored in the 19th, three minutes after Deco had put Barcelona ahead when he took advantage of a goalkeeping error by backup Christian Abbiati. Xavi Hernandez added a third in injury time.

Barcelona is second with 17 points. Real Madrid stayed top of the standings with 19 points after beating Recreativo Huelva 2-0 with second-half goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy and substitute Gonzalo Higuain.
Villarreal stayed third with 15 points after losing to Osasuna 3-2. Valencia, which lost to Espanyol 2-1 on Saturday, also has 15 points.

Fourth defeat
Deportivo La Coruna handed Sevilla its fourth straight defeat with a 1-0 win.

In other seventh round games Sunday, Mallorca rallied with 10 men to beat Getafe 4-2, and Ricardo Oliveira scored twice to lead Zaragoza over Levante 3-0. Also, Almeria rallied for a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao, while Murcia and Real Betis finished 0-0.

Getafe midfielder Francisco Sousa scored two great goals at the start of each half, but the islanders staged a brilliant comeback despite having midfielder Guillermo Pereyra sent off on the hour with Venezuela international Juan Arango striking twice.

Barcelona got its sixth straight win in all competitions. Abbiati, replacing the injured Leo Franco, let Messi’s weak pass slip out of his arms to gift Deco with an easy tap-in. After working a give-and-go with Ronaldinho, Messi sent his low left-footed shot under Abbiati inside the far post to take his goal tally to eight from the past six matches.

Abbiati twice denied Thierry Henry in the second half before Xavi pushed substitute Giovani Dos Santos’ pass into goal for the final score. At the Santiago Bernabeu, Van Nistelrooy ran on to Raul Gonzalez’s short pass in the 73rd before putting it past Recreativo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino and inside the near post for the winner.

Higuain beat Sorrentino with an individual effort in injury time as Madrid stayed unbeaten. Javi Garcia’s long-range curler from 25 meters (yards) in the 80th won it for Osasuna.

Diego Godin’s header in the 37th for Villarreal tied it at 2-2 two minutes after Portuguese striker Dady chested in a deflected ball.

Former Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi had opened with his fifth goal of the season in the 21st, sending a low shot from outside the area past goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez.

But Villarreal defender Javi Venta cancelled out his teammate’s effort a minute later, deflecting a pass from Juan Francisco Torres into goal.

Worst spell
At Sevilla, Ivan “Riki” Sanchez-Rico hit a 73rd-minute winner for Deportivo to keep Sevilla on six points. It is Sevilla’s worst spell under current coach Juande Ramos.

Juan Arango scored twice as Mallorca rallied from a two-goal second half deficit. Arango equalised in the 71st before getting his second goal seven minutes later, with Ivan Ramis adding a fourth in injury time.

Ariel Ibagaza scored from the penalty spot in the 54th for Mallorca’s first.  Francisco Sousa scored both goals for winless Getafe.