Messi, Neymar & Ronaldo Watch: Real Madrid and Barcelona Continue Perfect Starts

Sunday brought signs that they were starting to get into the stride of the new season—all trying to outdo the announcement of Real Madrid's deal to bring Gareth Bale to the Spanish capital, perhaps?

Not even another Lionel Messi hat-trick, which came in 40 first-half minutes, could do that though.

Earlier in the day, Cristiano Ronaldo had opened his account for the season, although for the third La Liga game running he failed to steal the show.

That honor fell to two-goal Isco and the deeper, yet equally brilliant, Luka Modric.

Later on Sunday evening, Messi and Neymar were paired together from the start for the second time in five days and the partnership everyone expects to blossom began to grow some leaves.

But let's start with the day's early kickoff at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Having fired blanks against Real Betis and Granada, Ronaldo scored his first goal of the new campaign in Real Madrid's 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao.

He couldn't really miss this one either.

Angel di Maria's freekick was brilliantly flighted in and, as the Athletic defense stepped up, the Portuguese forward was left with the simple task of heading past Guillermo Sara.

Question marks would have been raised if he had failed to score again—WhoScored statistics revealing he attempted nine shots on goal.

It takes the 28-year-old to 202 goals in 202 games for Los Blancos, but he will likely remain far from happy with his start to the season.

Performances and happiness levels will have to improve if he doesn't want to be overshadowed by Mr. Bale.

Lionel Messi

Having put Barcelona 3-0 up just before halftime, Messi would have been forgiven for thinking his job was largely done against Valencia.

However, a quickfire Helder Postiga brace had the home side right back in the match before the break.

Barcelona did eventually hold on for a 3-2 win, but Messi could have put the match to bed long before the referee halted proceedings.

Twice in the second half he was brilliantly thwarted by Diego Alves, and another time he shot wide with the far corner screaming out for the ball.

His goals were good, though, in the end.

Cesc Fabregas put him through for his first, "La Pulga" showing pace, strength and adept finishing to open the scoring.

He then punished a Valencia error in defense, brushing Adil Rami out the way to fire past the helpless Alves, before completing his hat-trick almost immediately thanks to a Neymar assist.

Neymar

Gerardo "Tata" Martino has taken his time in introducing Neymar into the starting lineup at Barcelona, but, following the midweek Supercopa draw with Atletico Madrid, he fielded him alongside Messi from the start for the second time.

And there were at last signs that the two could form an explosive relationship.

Neymar cut inside and played a perfectly timed pass to allow Messi to subtly complete his hat-trick, and a move involving the two, featuring some sublime Neymar skill, should have seen Messi make it 4-2 late on.

There's surely still plenty more to come from the young Brazilian, though.

He never looked particularly like scoring, despite occasionally cutting in and trying to get a shot away on his right foot.

Sergi Roberto replaced him after 90 minutes, with Tata presumably happy with what he saw of his two star South Americans' developing partnership.

Now for the international break...

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