Messi’s 4 goals pace Barcelona

MADRID (AP) ― Lionel Messi’s sublime chip capped a four-goal performance as the three-time Ballon d’Or winner moved past the 40-goal mark for a third straight season in mesmerizing fashion to lead Barcelona’s 5-1 thrashing of Valencia on Sunday.

Barcelona had to come from behind to stay within 10 points of Real Madrid, easily answering the Spanish leader’s 4-0 rout of Racing Santander one night earlier with a pure display of the football that has crowned it the world’s best team.

The undoubted star was Messi, who chipped goalkeeper Diego Alves after being put through by Sergio Busquets for his 27th league goal, 42nd in all competitions and 146th for Barcelona ― and in his 200th appearance for the club.

“The team played an incredible game. Some days you play well and some days you play poorly but what important is the team wins,” said Messi, whose only other four-goal performance was against Arsenal in the Champions League nearly two years ago.

Valencia had the early momentum, however, thanks to a ninth-minute goal when Sofiane Feghouli picked out Pablo Piatti’s run into the area with a perfectly floated cross for the Argentine to guide the ball past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

England

Premier League title contender Tottenham was held to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup by third-tier side Stevenage on Sunday, while Liverpool and Stoke advanced to the quarterfinals with few problems.

Spurs had a goal by Louis Saha ruled out because of offside but were largely frustrated by an organized Stevenage team containing former Tottenham fringe players Chris Day and Ronnie Henry.

Stoke ― last season’s runner-up ― overcame an early red card to Rory Delap to beat fourth-tier side Crawley 2-0 through a 42nd-minute penalty by Jonathan Walters and a 52nd-minute header from Peter Crouch.

Scotland

Celtic stretched its lead over troubled rival Rangers to a seemingly unassailable 17 points on Sunday with a 5-0 win over Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League.

Gary Hooper scored two goals and Anthony Stokes, Charlie Mulgrew and substitute Ki Sung-yueng hit one each to extend Celtic’s winning run in domestic competition to 18 games.