Barcelona vs. Deportivo La Coruna: Messi Hat Trick Makes up for Poor Defense in 5-4 Win; Ronaldo and Real Madrid win 2-0

Lionel Messi returned to being the king of La Liga as he added a game winning hattrick for Barcelona over Deportivo.

With the 5-4 win, Barcelona remains undefeated in 8 games for La Liga. With the three goals, Messi takes over the league lead with 11 goals. He added another assist to bring his total to 4 on the season.

Many expected Barca to steamroll through the 18^th place Deportivo La Coruña and for the first 20 minutes it seemed to be the case. Jordi Alba scored in the third minute, Cristian Tello added another five minutes later and at the 18^th minute mark, Messi added his first goal of the evening. Barcelona looked unbeatable at that point.

But then the poor Barcelona defense reared its ugly headed. As has been the case of late, Javier Mascherano did a clumsy slide tackle in the box and Pizzi converted on the ensuing spot kick at the 26^th minute. Just 11 minutes later Alex Bergantiños added a second to make it 3-2. Messi then gave Barcelona a little breathing room in the 43^rd with his second of the night.

But Deportivo refused to fold and just two minutes after half Pizzi added a second goal to make it 4-3. At that point Mascherano continued his poor game with a red card to put Barca down one man with Deportivo playing its best. Messi would add the third of the night to restore the two goal lead before Jordi Alba lobbed the ball into his own net just two minutes later. Barcelona managed to hold on in a sloppy match.

The match emphasized just how much this team misses Gerard Pique and Carles Puyols on the backend and how much they are in need of a Centre Back in place of the unreliable Mascherano. On Tuesday they take on Celtic in the Champions League and another match like this could be debilitating for the Spanish squad.

Rivals Real Madrid meanwhile picked up 3 points to keep the gap between the two squads at 8 points. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his ninth of the season while Gonzalo Higuain added the first Madrid goal. Casillas added his third clean sheet of the season after a rough start.