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Seydou Keita grabbed a hat-trick as Barcelona returned to the top of La Liga with a comprehensive 6-1 rout of Real Zaragoza.

Barcelona bounced back from a dip in form to dismantle Zaragoza with incisive, attacking play from their star trio - Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Messi was the man who pulled the strings throughout, shrugging off his recent drop in form to set up Keita with the first. The Argentine playmaker receiving Xavi's short corner, before turning sharply and delivering an inch-perfect cross onto the head of the unmarked Keita who powered home.

On the half-hour mark, it became two; Iniesta drawing Zaragoza's Gabi into an unnecessary foul. Up stepped Ibrahimovic, who powered the resulting 30 yard free-kick past the hapless Juan Pablo Carrizo. Then, just before half-time, Keita killed off the contest by slotting home Ibrahimovic's square-ball, having run the length of the field to grab his second of the game.

Any thoughts that Barcelona would take their foot off the pedal coming into the second-half were quickly crushed, as Ibrahimovic tapped in his second from close-range following a neat ball from Keita.

Victor Valdes had little to do in the Barcelona goal throughout the game, so it was surprising to see the away side claw a goal back with just over ten minutes remaining. Jorge Lopez striking low, after Valdes had first denied Ewerthon with a smart save.

Barca quickly made amends as Messi got on the scoresheet after being set up by Iniesta before Keita completed his hat-trick with a powerful header from an out-swinging Iniesta corner.

Joan Capdevila swept in a free-kick to give struggling Villarreal a 2-1 home win over Malaga and a first La Liga victory of the season that lifted them off the bottom of the table.

Capdevila's Spain team mate David Villa netted his seventh of the season and Pablo Hernandez scored with a superb lob as Valencia climbed to fourth with a 3-0 victory at Almeria, who had goalkeeper Diego Alves sent off in the 63rd minute.

Ernesto Valverde's Villarreal side took the lead at the Madrigal in the 27th minute when striker Nilmar slid in at the far post to clip Damian Escudero's low cross high into the net.

Albert Luque equalised in first-half added time with a powerful downward header before Capdevila curled a left-foot strike around the wall into the bottom corner of the net just before the hour.

Valencia took the lead at Almeria's Juegos Mediterraneos stadium in the 54th minute when winger Hernandez raced clear and crossed for Villa to nod past Alves.

Alves was shown a straight red card after he chopped Hernandez down outside his area and Hernandez then caught his replacement, Esteban, off his line with a perfectly weighted lob from distance to double Valencia's lead.

Juan Mata made sure of the points with a well-struck shot three minutes from the end of normal time.

Deportivo Coruna missed a chance to climb above Sevilla into third when they were thumped 4-0 at Real Valladolid earlier, and Athletic Bilbao lost 2-0 at Getafe.

Osasuna conceded a goal in added time to draw 1-1 at Racing Santander while Tenerife beat fellow promoted side Xerez 1-0.

Liam Graf / Reuters