Messi reminds Espanyol who's boss in Barcelona
Barcelona used a strong second half to power past city rivals Espanyol 5-1 on Sunday night at the Camp Nou.
One day after Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat trick for Real Madrid, Lionel Messi achieved the same feat in leading Barcelona back from an early 1-0 deficit. Gerard Piqué and Pedro also added goal for the home side.
With a key Champions League clash looming in midweek, manager Luis Enrique elected to rest midfielder Andres Iniesta and defender Jeremy Mathieu as the pair started on the bench. In front of goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, it was a back four of Dani Alves, Piqué, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba. Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Xavi formed the midfield and up front it was the trusted South American trio of Luis Suárez, Messi and Neymar.
As they have done so often before, Espanyol took the Camp Nou pitch and showed no fear against their more illustrious city rivals. Their assertive attitude was awarded in the 13th minute as Sergio García shocked the home fans by opening the scoring. Felipe Caicedo dispossessed Busquets, and García simply swooped in, charged into the Barcelona area, waltzed past Piqué and then swung a left-footed shot past Bravo to make it 1-0 to the Pericos.
The goal shook Barcelona from their doldrums and soon enough the home side were hunting for the equalizer. Messi issued a warning in the 30th minute when his free kick banged off the crossbar. Nine minutes later it was Messi serving up an inch-perfect cross into Alba but the fullback was denied twice by Espanyol goalkeeper Casilla. However, if not for the intervention of Bravo in the 42nd minute, Víctor Sánchez would have doubled Espanyol’s advantage on a counter attack that the Chilean stopper managed to thwart at the last second.
Bravo’s stop proved pivotal as Barcelona were able to draw level a minute before halftime and who else but Messi to get it done. The Argentine collected a ball from Xavi at the top of the area, moved to his left and had just enough room to release a left-footed shot that somehow found its way through a sea of legs and skipped between the post and Casilla and into the net.
Barcelona had a shout for a penalty in the early going of the second half when Neymar went down in the Espanyol area after a supposed push from Eric Bailly, but the referee
waved for play to continue while the Brazilian sat on the turf dumbfounded. However any feeling of injustice dissipated thanks to another piece of genius from Messi. Suárez centered for Messi, who took two quick touches before firing in a right-footer to make it 2-1 in the 50th.
Poor marking from Espanyol enabled Barcelona to then extend their lead to 3-1 as Rakitic’s corner found Piqué, who had slipped inside Bailly to smack a header past Casilla in the 53rd minute.
The hosts cemented the victory in the 78th minute on an absolutely sensational long ball up from Alba that connected with substitute Pedro, who only had to collect the ball and shoot past Casilla to make it 4-1 to Barcelona. Four minutes later Messi capped his epic night by scoring his third goal through a simple one-two combination with Pedro, thus matching the hat trick scored by his long-time Clásico rival Ronaldo one day prior. It is Messi’s 21st career hat trick in La Liga.
Barcelona will now return to Champions League action on Wednesday with a decisive encounter against Paris Saint-Germain at the Camp Nou.
