Lionel Messi scored his third hat-trick in four games to inspire FC Barcelona to a beautiful 5-1 victory over City rivals Espanyol in the Catalan derby at the Camp Nou.
The visitors came close to opening the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes when ex Blaugrana Sergio Garcia’s ball to the back post looked to be heading into the path of Felipe Caicedo, only for Jordi Alba to get across to clear the danger.
Moments later, Garcia broke the deadlock driving a well placed low shot to beat Claudio Bravo after Busquets lost the ball in a dangerous area.
Messi nearly levelled things up on the half-hour mark when his curling free kick came back off the crossbar, while Luis Suarez failed to find the target having being picked out by Xavi on the edge of the area.
Barcelona continued to press as the half-time interval drew closer, with Alba being denied only by Kiko Casilla after being teed up by a beautiful pass from Messi.
However, the Blaugranas finally managed to make the breakthrough in what was the last meaningful kick of the half, as Messi curled the ball into the bottom corner, a perfect goal to register his 400th for the club.
The second half proved to be a stroll for Luis Enrique’s charges, who took the lead through Messi’s second of the evening five minutes after the restart, with the Argentine forward skipping past two opposition players and then slotting home with his right foot.
That came just minutes before defender Gerard Pique gave his side some breathing space having powered a header beyond Casilla, but Blaugrana were far from finished there, adding two more goals in the remaining time.
Pedro came off the bench to convert a well-weighted through-ball, linking up with Messi shortly after to allow his teammate to roll the ball home for another memorable treble, his 32nd.
Barca’s fourth win on the bounce in La Liga ensure that they move back within two points of league leaders Real Madrid who won 3-0 a day before, while Espanyol are down in 12th following this collapse.
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