Messi hat-trick ensures Barca pounce on Madrid stumble

MADRID, Spain -- Lionel Messi's hat-trick saw Barcelona move four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga as Ousmane Dembele marked his debut with an assist in a 5-0 rout of local rivals Espanyol on Saturday.

Earlier, Madrid paid for the absence of the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and a series of missed chances by Gareth Bale as they were held to a shock 1-1 home draw by newly-promoted Levante.

Barca made no such mistake as for all their early season off-field problems, Ernesto Valverde's men have taken maximum points from their opening three La Liga games.

Messi led the way with a virtuoso performance, but his opener also needed a huge slice of luck as he was wrongly not flagged offside from Ivan Rakitic's through ball before blasting into the top corner.

Barca's second arrived thanks to a counter-attack from an Espanyol corner led by Messi and Luis Suarez before Jordi Alba's low cross was slotted home at the near post by the Argentine.

"It is a privilege to play with the best player in the world," said Suarez.

"Game-by-game he keeps showing that Messi will be around for a long time to come."

Messi put the outcome beyond any doubt by rounding off his hat-trick with another sharp finish from Alba's cut-back.

Dembele has the unenviable task of replacing the departed Neymar and Barca's 105 million-euro man had to wait until 22 minutes from time for his debut as he replaced Gerard Deulofeu to a standing ovation.

He showed why Barca have made the 20-year-old the third most expensive player ever as his pinpoint cross was swept home by Suarez to round off the scoring after Gerard Pique had headed home Barca's fourth.

However, even a fine display didn't dissuade the bad feeling towards Barca's under-fire board after a chaotic summer in the transfer market and splits between the boardroom and the dressing room, with Messi and Andres Iniesta yet to sign extensions to their contracts which expire in 2018.

Suarez's fifth goal was met with chants for president Josep Maria Bartomeu to reign.

- Much-changed Madrid held -

At the Santiago Bernabeu, a much-changed Madrid paid a heavy price for a slow start as they dropped points at home for the second consecutive game.

A Levante long-throw from the right was allowed to bounce inside Madrid's six-yard box before Ivi Lopez spun and fired across Kiko Casilla into the far corner after just 12 minutes.

"We can't be happy with our performance, above all in the first half," said Real boss Zinedine Zidane.

"We don't need to go crazy. We need to have patience and think about the next game, which is just around the corner."

The hosts were dealt another blow midway through the first half as Karim Benzema limped off and with no other natural striker on the bench, Bale was forced to play as an auxiliary centre-forward.

Madrid levelled nine minutes before half-time when Sergio Ramos's towering header was parried by Raul Fernandez, but Lucas Vazquez bundled home the rebound.

Bale then had a huge chance to turn the game around, but was denied by a smart stop from the Levante keeper as he tried to curl the ball home with the outside of his left foot.

Marcelo saw a fierce effort from the edge of the box turned behind by Fernandez, but the Brazilian appeared to kick out at Jefferson Lerma as he hit the ground and was shown a straight red card.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Madrid still nearly grabbed all three points as Toni Kroos's effort from the edge of the area clipped the outside of the post.

Atletico Madrid also trail Barca by four points as without the suspended Antoine Griezmann they drew a blank in an intense 0-0 draw at Valencia.

Sevilla moved up to second, just two points behind the leaders, as goals from Paulo Henrique Ganso, Wissam Ben Yedder and Nolito secured a 3-0 win over Eibar.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LA LIGA: Real Madrid, Barcelona still neck and neck after big wins

BARCELONA - Real Madrid thrashed Deportivo La Coruna 6-2 to stay level with Barcelona at the top of La Liga on Wednesday after the Catalans crushed Osasuna 7-1, condemning the minnows to relegation.

Lionel Messi, Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer scored twice each and Javier Mascherano netted his first goal for the club from the penalty spot as Barcelona built on Sunday's Clasico victory.

Real, though, showed they would not be easily toppled.

Zinedine Zidane made nine changes for the trip to the Riazor but Madrid’s reserves still made light work of Depor, with Isco running the show and finding the net along with James Rodriguez, who hit a brace, Alvaro Morata, Lucas Vazquez and substitute Casemiro.

Madrid have 78 points from 33 games, while Barcelona have the same tally from one game more.

Osasuna, rooted in 20th place, were relegated after 17th-placed Leganes beat Las Palmas 3-0 to move 12 points clear of the bottom club, an insurmountable total with four games to go because of their inferior head-to-head record.

“We had to win. We have suffered a lot since January. We’ve lacked both points and luck, and when that’s the case it’s hard to turn things around,” said Osasuna coach Petar Vasiljevic.

Messi opened the scoring with a mazy dribble capped with a neat chip over goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu before Gomes volleyed home Ivan Rakitic’s cross to double the lead.

Roberto Torres whipped in a free kick just after halftime to drag his team back into the match before Barcelona ran riot with a flurry of goals.

“I think it was a complete performance," said Barcelona coach Luis Enrique. "When they got back to 2-1, which was the worst moment because they’re back in the game and you never know, we were able to put our foot on the accelerator and close the game out.

“The way we played, we deserved to win by a large margin.”

Madrid deserved much the same against Depor after dominating from the start.

It took Alvaro Morata just 52 seconds to find the net after being played in by Isco with James Rodriguez slamming home the second from a Lucas Vazquez cross.

Florin Andone scored from close range, stabbing home Gael Kakuta’s cross-shot in the 35th minute, to give his side a glimmer of hope but nine minutes later Vazquez scored Madrid's third.

Rodriguez and Isco struck before Joselu’s header gave Depor fans some late cheer but Casemiro had the last word and restored Madrid's four-goal lead in the 87th minute.

"Isco was phenomenal," said Zidane. "He does things on the pitch that not everybody can. The fans congratulated him, I am happy for him, for the work he does. When he has to play he always does his job."

(Editing by Toby Davis, Neville Dalton, Nick Mulvenney)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

KING'S CUP: Suarez scores four as Barca rout Valencia 7-0

BARCELONA - Luis Suarez scored four goals and Lionel Messi grabbed a hat-trick as Barcelona all but wrapped up their King's Cup semi-final by crushing Valencia 7-0 in the first leg at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

Barely seven minutes had elapsed when Neymar stole the ball from a careless Andre Gomes in midfield, raced forward and passed to Suarez who rifled a shot across goal past Matthew Ryan.

Barca went two up when Sergio Busquets sent a long ball down the right which Aleix Vidal pulled back for Suarez to blast past Ryan.

"Great result which puts us closer to the objective," Suarez told Movistar. "There'd have to be a catastrophe to not play the final."

Valencia struggled to contain a Barca side with Neymar, Messi and Suarez creating danger almost at will.

Gary Neville's side rarely got near goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen as Barcelona produced one of their best performances of the season with Andres Iniesta and Messi playing in their ninth King's Cup semi-final in 10 seasons.

Messi scored the third after a neat backheel from Neymar.

On the stroke of halftime Barcelona were awarded a penalty when Shkodran Mustafi brought Messi down and was sent off but Neymar hit the post to leave the score 3-0 at the interval.

Russian Denis Cheryshev came on as a substitute for his Valencia debut just before Messi scored Barca's fourth in the 59th minute, taking a backheel from Suarez and weaving past two defenders.

Valencia had the ball in the net in the 69th minute after Cheryshev laid on for Rodrigo but it was ruled out for offside and Messi soon completed his hat-trick.

"I couldn't imagine a debut like this. I know it's Barcelona but we can't give such an image (of ourselves)," Cheryshev, on loan from Real Madrid, said. "Like this we won't go anywhere."

Suarez scored twice in the last seven minutes, a header from Adriano's cross and a shot from Arda Turan's square ball taking the Uruguayan's tally to nine goals in five matches and 35 for the season.

The second leg, in which Barcelona can afford to rest leading players, should be a mere formality in Valencia next Wednesday.

(Writing by Rex Gowar, editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)

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