Messi's "crazy" crisis over as Real goes top

Real Madrid inched to the top of the Liga table with a close-fought 1-0 win at Real Sociedad's Anoeta stadium on Saturday, a position it will hold until at least the next round of fixtures after Levante's spectacular run of victories ground to a halt at the Reyno de Navarra, where Osasuna chalked up just its third triumph of the season with a 2-0 score line.

After the match in San Sebastián, Real coach José Mourinho praised his players for "knowing how to win with tiredness" after a swift-fire accumulation of league matches - four in two weeks. "Now we must continue against Lyon and Osasuna, before the players travel around the world for friendlies," the Portuguese added in a thinly veiled barb at an equally packed schedule for La Liga's international players, such as goal scorer Gonzalo Higuaín.

His teammate at that level, Leo Messi, cracked in a 17-minute first-half hat-trick to knock the wind out of Mallorca's sails at Camp Nou as Barça strolled to a 5-0 win. It was the Argentinean maestro's eighth three-goal haul for his club, and his quickest, which took his tally in the league this season to 13. "It was crazy when they said I was in crisis after three games [without scoring]," said Messi.

Isaac Cuenca and Dani Alves added second-half efforts to draw Barça level with Real in the marksmanship stakes, with 32 goals each. Barça, though, has conceded just four, with stopper Víctor Valdés having gone 787 minutes without conceding, leaving him 38 minutes shy of a club record.

The same cannot be said of Diego López, the Villarreal keeper who has been in the firing line of the side's recent travails, but the Brazilian did keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Rayo to ease the pressure on his coach, Juan Carlos Garrido. Villarreal was in the relegation places before Sunday's win - only its second of the season - and a little distance between it and the bottom three was welcomed by Garrido: "The team deserved a win like this," said Garrido after Borja Valero and Bruno Soriano netted to keep the Yellow Submarine afloat.

Finding itself in considerably choppier waters after match day 11 is Getafe, which has not won in five attempts and was outmaneuvered by Valencia in a 3-1 defeat at Mestalla that sent it into the bottom three. Describing his side as "thick" during some phases of play, Unai Emery's men nonetheless eased into fourth place with a four-point advantage over Sevilla, which plays last-placed Granada on Monday.

Other results: Sporting 1-1 Athletic; Racing 1-0 Betis.