(CNN) -- Lionel Messi continued his remarkable season with yet another goal as unbeaten Barcelona secured an 11-point lead at the halfway stage of the Spanish league season on Sunday.
The Argentine, who won his fourth world player of the year award last week, scored once and was involved in both other goals as Barca won 3-1 at sixth-placed Malaga for a record 18th victory from 19 rounds.
It surpassed the previous leading halfway mark of 52 points that Barca recorded in winning the 2010-11 title.
While Atletico Madrid kept pace with a 2-0 win at home to Real Zaragoza on Sunday, third-placed champions Real Madrid now trail by 18 points following Saturday's 0-0 draw with bottom club Osasuna.
Messi was an unused substitute in Thursday's Spanish Cup win over Cordoba, but he returned to action at La Rosaleda along with cancer-stricken coach Tito Vilanova.
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Lionel Messi breaks goal scoring record
Lionel Messi celebrates after matching Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year, netting in the 16th minute of Barcelona's match against Real Betis. Just nine minutes later the Argentina star passed the German's 1972 milestone.
Lionel Messi's record year
In the absence of suspended skipper Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel captained Manchester United to European Champions League glory in 1999. United trailed Bayern Munich 1-0 heading into the 90th minute, but stunned the Germans by scoring twice in a matter of minutes to seal a famous 2-1 success. The win completed an historic Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble.
Schmeichel's Champions League tips
Lionel Messi and Radamel Falcao have both set La Liga alight this season with a number of stunning strikes. Messi had scored 88 goals in 2012 going into the clash, while Falcao had netted 16 times in the league this season ahead of the game at Camp Nou.
Messi vs. Falcao
"We're very happy to get 55 out of 57 points, but logically it will be difficult to repeat that with the Champions League and the Spanish Cup to think about as well," Vilanova told reporters.
"We have to go to Atletico and we have to go to Real Madrid so we can't just stop now, we have to keep going."
While Real sorely missed the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo in Pamplona, Messi underlined his value to the Catalans -- who were without injured striker David Villa.
He broke the deadlock in the 27th minute, pouncing on a poor backpass by Ignacio Camacho before cutting back inside the keeper and slotting home his 28th league goal in 19 matches and 37th overall this season.
Five minutes after the halftime break Messi delivered a beautiful pass over the Malaga defense -- which has conceded the fewest goals of any of La Liga's 20 clubs this season -- for Cesc Fabregas to apply a calm finish past Willy Caballero.
Young midfielder Thiago Alcantara made it 3-0 with 10 minutes to go after cutting in from the right, playing a simple one-two with Messi and driving a low left-foot shot into the net.
Malaga, like Barcelona playing in the last 16 of the European Champions League next month, hit back with a superb late consolation free-kick by Diego Buonanotte that his compatriot Messi would have been proud to call his own.
Messi, who scored a world record 91 goals in 2012, is now 10 clear of Atletico's Radamel Falcao in the La Liga scoring charts.
The Colombia striker netted a first-half penalty against Zaragoza to be two ahead of Ronaldo, who has 16.
Midfielder Tiago opened the scoring as Atletico made it 10 wins from 10 home games.
Real Betis moved up to fourth place with a 2-0 win at home to Levante, as Ruben Castro netted his 11th league goal this season after an opener from on-loan Costa Rica international Joel Campbell.
Deportivo La Coruna drew 1-1 at mid-table Real Sociedad to mean Osasuna's move from the bottom of the table was a brief one.
In Italy, Juventus gave hope to Serie A's title hopefuls after dropping points in the 1-1 draw at Parma on Sunday.
The champions went ahead in the 52nd minute thanks to an own-goal by Jonathan Biabiany, but midtable Parma hit back with 13 minutes to play through Sergio Floccari.
Second-placed Lazio closed the gap to three points with a 2-0 win at home to Atalanta, while Napoli reclaimed third from Inter Milan with a 3-0 win over Palermo.
Seventh-placed AC Milan could only draw 0-0 at Sampdoria.
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The three-time world player of the year, who is shortlisted for a record fourth ballon d'Or in January, passed Muller with three more possible matches to play in 2012.
The 25-year-old crept within one goal of Muller's record with two goals against Athletic Bilbao in a 5-1 victory in December. Click here to see a map of Messi's first 84 goals this year.
However, Messi was injured after coming on as a substitute during a Champions League match against Benfica -- but he made a quick recovery to be fit for the Betis game.
Lionel Messi has enjoyed a stellar 2012. With a hat-trick against Grenada in March, he equaled and broke the all-time goalscoring record for Barcelona in official matches of 232 set by Cesar Rodriguez.
A hat-trick against Malaga in May took Messi to 68 goals for the 2011-12 season, edging him past the record for goals in a European season set by Bayern Munich's Muller in 1972-73.
Schmeichel is backing Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund to pull off a shock and lift the Champions League for the second time in their history. The German title winners have been lauded for topping a group which contained Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax.
Lionel Messi has been unstoppable in 2012, scoring a record 90 goals so far this calendar year. Barcelona will be looking to win the Champions League for the fourth time in seven years.
Jose Mourinho has already won the Champions League with two different clubs -- Inter Milan and Porto. Despite an indifferent start to the Spanish league season, Schmeichel is confident Mourinho has the ability to lead Real Madrid to a landmark 10th European triumph.
Manchester United sit top of the English Premier League as the season approaches its halfway point, but Alex Ferguson's team has leaked goals all season. Schmeichel thinks his old club will need defender Nemanja Vidic to return to his top form if United are to stand any chance of reaching May's Wembley final.
Barcelona's forward Pedro Rodriguez and Atletico's Filipe Luis go in for a challenge as La Liga's top two went head-to-head. Barca had taken an incredible 43 points from a possible 45, winning 14 of their 15 league games to lead Atletico by six points.
After hitting the woodwork early on and firing an effort wide of the post, Falcao finally put Atletico ahead on 30 minutes. The in-form striker nipped in between Barcelona's central defenders before lifting the ball over the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
Falcao runs away to celebrate at a stunned Camp Nou as Atletico takes the lead with their third opportunity of a pulsating first-half.
Adriano's stunning curling effort brings Barcelona level with nine minutes of the first-half remaining. The full-back turned on to his left-foot before sending an unstoppable strike into the top corner of the Atletico net to make it 1-1.
With halftime approaching, Sergio Busquets pounces inside the penalty area to fire home his first goal of the season after Atletico failed to clear its lines.
Messi curls home Barca's third and his 89th of 2012 on 57 minutes to seal victory and stretch the team's lead at the top of La Liga.
Messi celebrates with fellow goalscorers Busquets and Adriano as Barca move into a 3-1 lead at Camp Nou.
Messi latches onto a defensive mistake and grabs his 90th goal of 2012 to make it 4-1 and send Barca nine points clear of Atletico at the summit.
Messi celebrates after scoring his 25th league goal of the season and 34th overall. It's also the sixth league game in a row which Messi has scored twice.
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