FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both scored easy home wins on Saturday to keep the pressure on Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga on Saturday.

The three clubs began the day on 57 points, but with Real Madrid playing on Sunday, Barca and Atletico wasted no time in assuring their rivals would need to win to maintain themselves at the top of the table.

Barca had few points as Leo Messi and Cesc Fabrigas produced excellent displays to put them en-route to beat struggling Rayo, with Messi breaking records as an added bonus and Neymar celebrating his return from injury with a goal.

Adriano opened the scoring with a diagonal shot in just the second minute of the game and It could have been 3-0 by the 18th minute as first Leo Messi and then Pedro Rodriguez sent shots against the Rayo post.

Victor Valdes had to be alert to deny Alberto Bueno and Iago Falque as Rayo showed they can play good football, but Messi doubled Barca's lead after 35 minutes following Herculean work from Cesc Fabrigas allowed him to chip Rayo keeper Ruben.

The goal was Messi's 227th goal in the Spanish league and saw him draw level with the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano as the fourth highest scorer in the history of the competition.

The Argentinean turned provider as Barca sealed the points in the opening minutes of the second half. First of all Messi set up Alexis Sanchez for his 15th goal of the campaign, before he and Cesc Fabrigas set up Pedro for the fourth of the game -- a goal which saw Neymar soon replace Pedro as he made his return from an ankle injury.

Messi scored his second of the night after 68 minutes to take him above Di Stefano in the all-time list and to draw level with another Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez on 228 league goals.

Neymar then rounded off a perfect night with a well taken goal from Neymar in the 88th minute to make it 6-0 on the night.

Atletico Madrid got off to the perfect start to their game at home to Valladolid when Raul Garcia scored the opening goal of their 3-0 win after just three minutes.

It has been a difficult week for Atletico with two defeats to Real Madrid, which saw them knocked out of the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, and a league defeat to lowly Almeria last week, but once Diego Costa, a former Valladolid player, scored their second goal with just five minutes on the clock, it not only punished late arrivers at the Vicente Calderon Stadium, it also made the win virtually secure.

Diego Godin's goal with 74 minutes on the clock was the icing on the cake and allowed Diego Simeone to rest players ahead of next week's Champions League tie away to AC Milan.

Meanwhile David Barral scored a falling volley to give Levante a 1-0 win at home to Almeria, whose climb away from the relegation zone was halted by the defeat.

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