Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (C) vies with Villarreal's midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez (R) and Villarreal's Italian midfielder Roberto Soriano during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Villarreal CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on May 6, 2017. / AFP / LLUIS GENE

BARCELONA: Barcelona's formidable front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all scored as the champions beat Villarreal 4-1 on Saturday to stay top of La Liga and keep the pressure on title rivals Real Madrid. Barca top the standings with 84 points after 36 games, three ahead of Real who have played two games fewer and visit already-relegated Granada. Lionel Messi reached another landmark by scoring his 50th and 51st goals in all competitions.

Neymar was in sensational form in his second game back from suspension and nudged Barcelona ahead in the 21st minute after pouncing on a deflected pass from Messi. Cedric Bakambu fired Villarreal level in the 32nd after beating the offside trap to latch on to a clever through ball from Roberto Soldado.    Barca were temporarily punctured by the leveler but a marvelous piece of skill from Messi allowed them to restore their lead on the stroke of halftime with a shot from the Argentine which flew beyond Andres Fernandez with the help of a deflection.

Barcelona's fifth straight win gave it three more points than Madrid before the latter visited the relegated Granada later. Barcelona holds the tiebreaker over Madrid, but Madrid will still have three matches to play after this round to Barcelona's two. That means Madrid controls its own fate as it tries to dethrone Barcelona and lift its first Liga title since 2012.

Messi's goal on the last kick of the first half tilted a match that was wide open for the first 45 minutes, in Barcelona's favor. Neymar, who excelled in his incursions from the left flank throughout, opened the scoring when he poked in a shot by Messi that hit a defender and fell to him in front of goalkeeper Andres Fernandez. Villarreal responded with a goal by striker Cedric Bakambu in the 32nd when Roberto Soldado played him clear on the break as he sped away from Gerard Pique.

Pique wasted a cross by Messi that he only had to nod in and Soldado barely missed with a header on the other end before Neymar helped Messi take back the lead. It's the fifth season in Messi's career that he's reached 50 goals. Neymar deftly dribbled past a pair of defenders and laid off for Messi to put the ball on his left boot.

Head down, Messi opened an angle around two defenders and unleashed a long strike that took a deflection off Villarreal's Mario Gaspar before finding the net. Suarez fired his goal under Fernandez in the 69th after Sergi Roberto set him up in the area. Messi added a penalty that he converted in the "panenka" style, gently chipping the ball down the middle after the goalie moved, after Jaume Costa handled the ball in the box.  -Agencies