Robert Lewandowski scored a first-half hat-trick as Barcelona restored their three-point lead at the top of La Liga with a comfortable win at Alaves.

Real Madrid’s home win against Villarreal on Saturday evening meant they were temporarily level with Hansi Flick’s team.

However, the visitors, who suffered a shock defeat to Osasuna last weekend, always looked in control after Lewandowski gave them an early lead following a curling effort from Raphinha.

The 36-year-old’s second goal, a shot from close range, came after further good preparatory work by the Brazilian.

And his and Barca’s third goal came when he parried a shot past home goalkeeper Antonio Sivera from a pass from Eric Garcia.

The Polish striker has now scored 12 goals in 11 games in all competitions for Barca, who are averaging over three goals per game in Spain’s top flight this season.

“I had some good passes and they made it easier for me to score,” Lewandowski said on DAZN.

“We played well from the first minute and wanted to attack and score goals. We had more control in the second half.”

“We have a very good group. I think we can play better, but we improved all the things we were missing.”

The hosts, who threatened sporadically, thought they had equalized just before half-time, but Toni Martinez’s goal was ruled out for offside.