Messi follows Ronaldo with another hat-trick
9 Dec 2014 11:57 PM GMT
After falling behind to Sergio Garcia’s early strike, Barcelona took control of the Catalan derby on Sunday. Messi’s 21st Liga treble, which took him to within two of Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 23 set on Saturday, a Gerard Pique header and neat finish from Pedro, was enough to see Barca take the spoils and leapfrog Atletico Madrid in second place with 34 points. Real still lead the table with 36 points after a 3-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Barcelona did not heed the early warning, and they soon found themselves behind. Felipe Caicedo challenged Sergio Busquets just inside the Barcelona half, and as the Camp Nou waited for a whistle that never came from the referee, Sergio Garcia ran directly at a static Pique before firing past Claudio Bravo to stun the hosts. Barcelona then reacted, with Xavi Hernandez, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic all seeing chances come and go as they began to dominate play. After being brought down on the edge of the box, Messi saw the resulting free-kick bounce off the crossbar with goalkeeper Kiko Casilla beaten, and it only seemed a matter of time before the home side equalised.
The equaliser arrived on the stroke of half time with the kind of goal that Barcelona have made their trademark. Jordi Alba cut inside from the left, feeding Xavi Hernandez, who in turn laid the ball off to the Argentine who swept home from just outside the box. Five minutes after the break it was 2-1 when Neymar combined with Luis Suarez to find Messi on the edge of the box, and the 27-year-old rifled a right-footed effort past a hapless Casilla to knock the wind out of their opponents’ sails.
Two minutes later the advantage was doubled as a Rakitic corner was met by Pique, and from there on there was only one winner. With 13 minutes remaining an Alba diagonal ball found substitute Pedro Rodriguez, who had earlier replaced Suarez, and the Spain international made no mistake to further stretch Barca’s lead.
Nine minutes from time Messi capped off a fine afternoon as he scored his third, and his side’s fifth, following a give-and-go with Pedro. Meanwhile, Real Sociedad lost 0-4 away at Villarreal. Defeat leaves Sociedad in 14th, three points above relegation zone, while Villarreal move up to sixth.
Barcelona did not heed the early warning, and they soon found themselves behind. Felipe Caicedo challenged Sergio Busquets just inside the Barcelona half, and as the Camp Nou waited for a whistle that never came from the referee, Sergio Garcia ran directly at a static Pique before firing past Claudio Bravo to stun the hosts. Barcelona then reacted, with Xavi Hernandez, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic all seeing chances come and go as they began to dominate play. After being brought down on the edge of the box, Messi saw the resulting free-kick bounce off the crossbar with goalkeeper Kiko Casilla beaten, and it only seemed a matter of time before the home side equalised.
The equaliser arrived on the stroke of half time with the kind of goal that Barcelona have made their trademark. Jordi Alba cut inside from the left, feeding Xavi Hernandez, who in turn laid the ball off to the Argentine who swept home from just outside the box. Five minutes after the break it was 2-1 when Neymar combined with Luis Suarez to find Messi on the edge of the box, and the 27-year-old rifled a right-footed effort past a hapless Casilla to knock the wind out of their opponents’ sails.
Two minutes later the advantage was doubled as a Rakitic corner was met by Pique, and from there on there was only one winner. With 13 minutes remaining an Alba diagonal ball found substitute Pedro Rodriguez, who had earlier replaced Suarez, and the Spain international made no mistake to further stretch Barca’s lead.
Nine minutes from time Messi capped off a fine afternoon as he scored his third, and his side’s fifth, following a give-and-go with Pedro. Meanwhile, Real Sociedad lost 0-4 away at Villarreal. Defeat leaves Sociedad in 14th, three points above relegation zone, while Villarreal move up to sixth.
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