LONDON: Barcelona and Bayern Munich warmed up in style for their midweek Champions League last-16 ties against English opposition with the Catalans brushing aside Rayo Vallecano 6-0 in La Liga and the Bavarians trouncing Freiburg 4-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

Lionel Messi scored two goals and set up another as Barca remained on top of La Liga on goal difference ahead of their highly anticipated first-leg clash with Manchester City on Tuesday.

Fellow La Liga and Champions League rivals Atletico Madrid, who visit AC Milan in Europe’s premier club competition on Wednesday, are level with Barca on 60 points from 24 matches after they beat Real Valladolid 3-0.

Xherdan Shaqiri scored twice as Bayern extended their Bundesliga lead to 16 points – a perfect preparation for Wednesday’s knockout round clash at Arsenal.

But preparations weren’t so ideal for Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern’s closest rivals in the Bundesliga title race. Leverkusen, who face Paris St Germain at home in the Champions League on Tuesday, lost 2-1 at home to Schalke 04.

MESSI TOPS DI STEFANO

Adriano got Barcelona off to a flying start when he curled home the opener inside two minutes at the Nou Camp and Messi doubled Barca’s lead in the 36th with a delightful lob over Ruben Martinez.

Messi struck again in the 68th to overhaul Alfredo Di Stefano’s La Liga goals tally before assisting Alexis Sanchez, with Pedro Rodriguez and Neymar also adding goals.

Messi took his total in Spain’s top flight to 228 goals from 263 matches, one more than Real Madrid great Di Stefano to move joint-third on the all-time list behind record marksman Telmo Zarra (251) and Hugo Sanchez (234) and level with Raul.

“When the team is having fun we play better and today a lot of people had fun,” Barca coach Gerardo Martino said. “If I had to choose I would prefer to go into the match against City playing like this.”

Atletico likewise dominated their home match after Raul Garcia scored three minutes in from a set-piece and seconds later passed for Diego Costa to record his 21st league goal.

Centre-back Diego Godin added a third in the 74th as Atletico ended a run of three straight losses before they visit Milan.

LEVERKUSEN SLUMP AGAIN

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar headed home in the 74th minute as Leverkusen stumbled to their fifth defeat in their last seven games following their shock 1-0 extra-time defeat at home to second-division Kaiserslautern on Wednesday in the German Cup quarter-finals.

Schalke, in fourth place with 40 points, took the lead when 19-year-old midfielder Leon Goretzka scored on 28 minutes before Royal Blues centre-back Felipe Santana netted a second-half own goal to restore parity.

“We played the better football, I feel for the team,” Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia said. “If we play like this on Tuesday [against PSG] I’ll be happy. We showed a lot of character.”

Earlier, Shaqiri scored twice off deflected shots in the 34th and 42nd minutes against Freiburg after defender Dante put Bayern ahead in the 19th minute with a glancing header.

Claudio Pizarro completed the rout in the 88th as Bayern stretched their league record unbeaten run to 46 games and moved to 59 points from 21 matches.

“We wanted to put in a good performance before the Arsenal game — now we’re looking forward to the Champions League,” said Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as third-placed Borussia Dortmund, with 42 points, downed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0.

ICARDI WINNER

Elsewhere in Italy, Argentinian Mauro Icardi came off the bench to score a 65th-minute winner for Inter in a 2-1 win at Fiorentina which put Walter Mazzarri’s side within sight of fourth place in Serie A.

Inter took the lead in the 34th minute through Rodrigo Palacio but Juan Cuadrado levelled for Fiorentina with a deflected shot seconds after the break.

The victory moved fifth-placed Inter to 39 points, within five of Fiorentina and provisionally eight adrift of Napoli who are third.

RODRIGUEZ DOUBLE

In France, Colombian James Rodriguez scored both goals in Monaco’s 2-0 victory at Bastia, keeping them in contention for the Ligue 1 title, five points behind leaders Paris St Germain.

Rodriguez’s first goal, on the stroke of half-time, was a superb free kick that rocketed in before goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca could even move, and his second in the 77th minute came after a superb counterattack as Monaco moved up to 53 points.

Reims climbed provisionally up to sixth place after beating Bordeaux 1-0.—Agencies