Barca continues to roll with defeat of Rayo

Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Barcelona's scintillating start to the season continued on Saturday as the club cruised to a 2-0 victory at Rayo Vallecano.

Lionel Messi and Neymar once again proved to be the catalysts for the victory as the duo scored one minute apart in the opening period to guide the Catalans to their sixth win through seven La Liga fixtures.

Messi moved to within one goal of the all-time La Liga scoring record by breaking the deadlock in the 35th minute of Saturday's affair. The Argentina international latched on to a bouncing ball played through the Rayo defense and chipped a shot into the back of the net from close range.

Neymar wasted little time in doubling Barcelona's advantage as the Brazilian attacker made a diagonal run through the penalty area in the 36th minute, took a through ball in stride and fired a shot back across goal that nestled just inside the post.

Rayo was left no way back as Jorge Garcia Morcillo and Javier Aquino both received their marching orders after collecting two cautions apiece, allowing Barcelona to preserve its seventh clean sheet of the league campaign.

The Catalans remain at the La Liga summit by improving to 19 points while Rayo remains on eight points.

Valencia moved into sole possession of second place in the top flight after the club cruised to a stunning 3-1 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Mestalla on Saturday.

The hosts were three goals to the good inside the opening 13 minutes, putting the reigning league champions on the back foot.

Miranda conceded an own goal in the sixth minute while Andre Gomes doubled Valencia's advantage one minute later. Nicolas Otamendi tacked on a third in the 13th minute to leave Atletico in a massive hole.

Mario Mandzukic managed to pull one back for the visitors in the 29th minute, but virtually all of their momentum was lost in the 45th minute when Guilherme Siqueira failed to convert a penalty kick.

That miss, along with a late red card to Atletico's Alessio Cerci, allowed Valencia to close out the match and climb to 17 points on the season, three points clear of Atletico.

Eibar secured a dramatic home point on Saturday as the club played to a 3-3 draw against Levante.

Victor Casadesus thought he had won it for Levante when he struck in the 79th minute, but Federico Piovaccari struck in the 90th to help Eibar earn a third straight draw and climb to nine points.

Also on Saturday, Antunes converted an 80th-minute penalty to hand Malaga a 2-1 win over Granada and Tommer Hemed netted an 84th-minute equalizer in Almeria's 2-2 draw with Elche.