Messi downs Sevilla with 50th career hat-trick

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Lionel Messi scored his 50th career hat-trick to fire Barcelona to a 4-2 win at Sevilla on Saturday after the champions had twice fallen behind, giving the Catalans a 10-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Sevilla, who have only won once in the league in 2019, took the lead midway through the first half by veteran winger Jesus Navas but were soon pegged back by an unstoppable volley from Messi.

The home side capitalized on sleepy defending from Barca to re-take the lead before halftime as Gabriel Mercado pounced in the area.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde made two attacking changes at the start of the second period by introducing Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto and got the intended reaction when the France winger laid the ball off to Messi just inside the area and the Argentine lashed it into the top corner.

Messi, who has struggled for form in recent weeks due to a niggling injury, looked on a mission to grab the winner and after twice coming close he completed his treble to put Barca ahead in the 85th minute, reacting quickly to a poor Sevilla clearance to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.

Luis Suarez made sure of the points by scoring deep in stoppage time, chipping Vaclik after being played through by a pass from Messi.

Barca lead the standings on 57 points after 25 games while second-placed Atletico Madrid have 47 but can reduce the gap back to seven when they host Villarreal on Sunday.

Sevilla fell to fifth, slipping out of the Champions League places behind Getafe.

They took the lead through a lightning quick counter-attack as Wissam Ben Yedder marauded down the pitch and played in Navas, who took one touch to control and the other to slide the ball through the legs of the diving Gerard Pique and beyond the outstretched Marc-Andre ter Stegen into the bottom corner.

Sevilla FC's Gabriel Mercado (L) celebrates 2-1 with teammate Pablo Sarabia during a La Liga match against FC Barcelona at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in Sevilla, Spain, February 23, 2019. /VCG Photo

Sevilla's intensity prevented Barca from replicating their usual slick passing game and it took a superb goal from Messi to pull them level, the Argentine swiveling to meet a cross from Ivan Rakitic on the volley, leaving Vaclik with no chance.

Sevilla are Messi's favorite victims, and last year he came off the bench to score twice in two minutes and rescue a 2-0 draw from 2-0 down. He went one better this time and has now scored 36 times in 37 games against the Andalusians.

It was his 44th hat-trick for Barca, with 32 coming in La Liga, eight in the Champions League, three in the Copa del Rey and one in the Spanish Super Cup. He has also struck six trebles for Argentina.

For other La Liga matches on Saturday, Getafe beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 at home, Deportivo Alaves made a goalless draw with Celta Vigo, and Athletic Bilbao scored the only one goal of the game to win over Eibar.

On Sunday, there will be Leganes vs. Valencia, Atletico Madrid vs. Villarreal, Real Valladolid vs. Real Betis and Levante vs. Real Madrid.

Superman's words

"Today, we were ourselves again and we produced a great performance," Messi told reporters.

"We went through a spell where, to be honest, we did not play our best football so that made it much harder for us to score.

"You have different moments over a season, and we can't always play at the highest level. But when we manage to get the play to flow, things always happen for us."

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (R) in action during a La Liga match against Sevilla FC at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in Sevilla, Spain, February 23, 2019 /VCG Photo

Barca's inconsistent results have not harmed their bid to successfully defend the La Liga title and the thrilling win extended their lead at the top of the table to 10 points over nearest challengers Atletico Madrid.

"There is still a long way to go in the season but it was very important to win here and keep the distance with our rivals," added Messi, who leads the scoring charts in Spain and in Europe's top five leagues with 25 goals.

"It's always tough to win here, we know what it is like to come to this stadium and how good Sevilla's players are, they made things very hard for us by taking the lead but we knew how to overcome all that."

Barca now face back-to-back trips to arch-rivals Real Madrid, with a Copa del Rey semi-final second leg on Wednesday followed by a league visit back at the Santiago Bernabeu next Saturday.

"Now, we have some very difficult games coming up and everything will get harder as the season draws to a close," Messi said.

"We won't give up in any competition. We are one step from reaching the Cup final. That game is going to be very tough because it's against Madrid, in their stadium.

"But we will go out to win and believe we can. Then we will focus on the league game. We're going to try and win everything."

Source(s): Reuters