Lewandowski scores hat-trick, Barca maintain La Liga lead

Robert Lewandowski continued his impressive start to the season on Sunday, scoring a hat trick in a 25-minute span as Barcelona beat Alaves 3-0 and went into the international break top of the Spanish league.

Lewandowski scored in the seventh, 22nd and 32nd minutes to take his league tally to 10 goals in nine matches. He has a total of 12 goals in 11 games in all competitions, and has scored eight times in his last five matches.

The victory moved Barcelona three points back in front of second-place Real Madrid ahead of the international break.

Lewandowski scored with close-range strikes after a pair of assists by Raphinha and another from Eric Garcia.

It was the third loss in a row for Alaves, which had no attempts on goal in the first half.

Barcelona lost forward Ferran Torres with an apparent muscle injury five minutes into the match.