Wins for Barca and Atletico before International break

Leo Messi passed another landmark as he scored the goals which gave FC Barcelona a 2-0 win away to Alaves.

Although he missed a first half penalty, Messi was on target twice in the second half to not only make it two wins from 2 games for Barca, but for him to pass 350 league goals in his career on Saturday. Only German striker Gerd Muller has now scored more goals for a single club than the Argentine, reports Xinhua news agency.

The game also saw Paulinho make his Barcelona debut as he played the last five minutes. After Friday's confirmation of the signing of Ousmane Dembele, Barca can go into the international break on a positive note.

Atletico Madrid were 2-0 up away to Las Palmas after three minutes thanks to goals from Angel Correa and Yannick Carasco.

Calleri pulled one back for Las Palmas just before the hour but Koke scored two excellent goals, one of which was an overhead kick, and Thomas added a fifth to assure the points would return to Madrid and extend Atletico's unbeaten away run to 13 matches.

Levante came back from 2-0 down at home to Deportivo la Coruna, who had taken a lead through Fede Cartabria and Sidnei within half an hour, to claim a 2-2 draw with goals from Eris Bardhi, who scored a fine free kick, and Ivo Lopez's penalty.

Meanwhile, Girona took their first victory in the top flight with a 1-0 win at home to Malaga thanks to Pedro Alcala's first half goal. Malaga meanwhile go into the international break with two defeats and deep in trouble.

Friday saw Real Sociedad's Xabi Prieto celebrate his 500th appearance with a goal and an assist as his side made it 2 wins from two games with a 3-0 victory over Villarreal, who lost goalkeeper Andres Fernandez with a serious knee injury.

Willian Jose and Juanmi scored the other goals for the Basques in what was a comfortable win.

Meanwhile Betis opened their new stand in front of 45,000 fans who enjoyed a positive performance as they came back from 1-0 down to defeat Celta Vigo 2-1 with goals from Sergio Leon and Zou Feddal.

--IANS

sam/mr