The result means Barca are once again only a point behind leaders Real Madrid, who beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 on Saturday.

Neymar scored the opener with an effort that spun in off his foot, before Messi drilled in, tapped home his second and then made it 4-0 from the spot.

Luis Suarez scored the goal of the game when he acrobatically volleyed in.

It was a stunning finish by the substitute that mirrored the excellent performance by Barca, who have now won their last 11 games in all competitions - equalling the streak in 2008-09 under then coach Pep Guardiola.

Barca opened the scoring in rather fortunate circumstances when Neymar's strike, from Messi's delivery, spun up in the air before dropping just over the line.

Less bizarre was the Barcelona's second. Messi was again alert to what was going on behind him, latching on to Marc Bartra's pass before firing in.

Messi's La Liga record
The mercurial maestro has now scored 269 goals in 300 league matches - an average of 0.89 goals per game

And it was 3-0 14 minutes after the break, when the Argentine forward tapped in after Pedro brilliantly diverted Sergio Busquets's chipped ball into his path. The 27-year-old then completed his hat-trick with 26th league goal of the season - a penalty after Ivan Lopez had bundled over Neymar.

The Brazilian was later taken off and replaced by £75m summer signing Suarez. The Uruguay forward, who had only scored four times this season, marked his cameo appearance with on outstanding goal, converting Adriano's cross from the left with a scissor-kick volley.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique:

"Records are obviously positive, but they don't interest me.

"The players aren't overly euphoric because they know how hard it is to win titles.

"If the fans are euphoric then great. We need to be optimistic, but it isn't important how many games we have won. What counts is if they help us to win trophies."

08:58:00

Egypt says it has bombed Islamic State targets in Libya, hours after the militants released video of apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians.

State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. A second wave of strikes was reported hours later.

Libyan officials said Egypt hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna.

The strikes came amid widespread condemnation of the killings. The US and UN described them as "cowardly".

A video emerged on Sunday showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.

The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in separate incidents in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.

The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. It was one of the first such videos to come from an IS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.

The video describes the Copts as "crusaders" and refers among other things to two women, wives of Coptic priests, whose alleged conversion to Islam triggered a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.

IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which in effect has rival governments.

08:32:00

 
Russia has vowed to respond if the European Union imposes new sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.            
 The EU says the sanctions, targeting more Russian individuals, will come in on Monday but could be later suspended if Russia withdraws troops from eastern Ukraine and observes a current truce.
Friday's ceasefire appears to be largely holding - but there were reports of shootings by both sides.
Some 2,600 people have died since a pro-Russian rebellion began in April.
  
'Party of war'
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement: "As for the new list of sanctions from the European Union, if they are passed, there will undoubtedly be a reaction from our side."
  
Ukrainian forces have been losing ground to the rebels in the past two weeks.
The fresh sanctions would add another 24 people to the list of people barred from entering the EU and whose assets have been frozen.
Among them would be the rebel leadership in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, officials in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March, and Russian "decision-makers and oligarchs", European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.

06:54:00

                 The Ukrainian government and pro-Russia rebels have signed a truce deal to end almost five months of fighting.

The two sides, meeting in the Belarusian capital Minsk, agreed to stop firing at 15:00 GMT.
President Petro Poroshenko said he would do "everything possible" to end the bloodshed. The rebels said the truce had not changed their policy of advocating separation from Ukraine.
More than 2,600 people have died since rebels stormed several eastern cities.
The move prompted a military operation by Ukrainian forces to retake the cities.
The rebels, who had largely been pushed back towards their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, made new advances in recent days.
Fighting was continuing on Friday around Mariupol, a coastal city about 110km (70 miles) south of Donetsk.
The BBC's Fergal Keane in Mariupol tweeted that pro-Russia forces seemed to be hitting Ukrainian positions 4km outside the city.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen as Ukrainian artillery fired back, he says. Ukrainian fighter jets also hit rebel positions.
The West accuses Russia of sending arms and troops to back the rebels in eastern Ukraine - allegations denied by Russia.

07:46:00