Brilliant Messi Lifts Barca To La Liga Summit

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  • As Eibar fall 0-5 at Camp Nou
  • Rivals Real Madrid lose 0-1 to Levante

Most pundits agree with the saying that football is an escape from the real world and if there’s one player who can help you disconnect more than any other, then it is FC Barcelona talisman, Lionel Messi.

In a week of in house turmoil and recriminations over the so-called, ‘Barcagate’ and the signing of Martin Braithwaite, the Spanish giants needed their mercurial captain, Messi, to quell dissent from locals who were grossly unhappy with Club President and board.

The Catalans were host to poor Eibar on Saturday at the end of a rough week, reeling from the fallout of the social media scandal labelled ‘Barcagate’, and being battered in the media both at home and abroad for snatching Leganes striker, Martin Braithwaite, leaving the Madrid minnows stricken.

And the fans showed their anger at the Board by waving white handkerchiefs and chanted for President Josep Maria Bartomeu to resign, in a stormy opening few minutes.

However, after the visitors had Sergio Enrich’s goal disallowed for offside, Messi took control of affairs, with a casual and brilliant first-half hat-trick, the perfect sedative for Camp Nou.

He added a fourth at the death in Barcelona’s 5-0 win, taking them to the top of La Liga table. It took the Argentine star only 14 minutes yo break the deadlock with a brilliant individual goal, nutmegging defender Anaitz Arbilla, holding off another defender and dinking home.

That ended Messi’s personal drought of four matches without scoring – the longest he’s gone in the league without a goal since the 2013-14 season, although he had racked up six assists since he last netted.

The victory is no doubt the much needed tonic for Barca as they moved forward after the turmoil of the past few days. On Tuesday they travel to Napoli in the Champions League and the chaos the club has been living in cannot be allowed to spoil their chances of European success.

The social media story – allegations that Barcelona’s board were paying a company to lambast their critics including Messi and Gerard Pique – is not over. Barca deny all allegations and Bartomeu said they are analysing what happened.

However, the story line for Barcelona’s bitter rivals, Real Madrid is that of a season clearly in danger of falling apart just before their return to Champions League action and another el-Clasico

Certainly, the last thing Zinedine Zidane needed was an injury to Eden Hazard on a night when they lost ground in the title race to Barcelona

Out of nowhere, problems are appearing at Real Madrid for Zidane at a worrying speed. For months now, things had been rosy as his wards found the form and stability they desperately lacked last season, moving atop La Liga, and showing verve as real contenders for the first time since winning the double in 2017.

Happily, the atmosphere at Santiago Bernabeu had returned to its usual electric form with Karim Benzema as one of the world’s most lethal strikers; Eden Hazard making his comeback from injury; and the defence becoming watertight, marshalled brilliantly by Thibaut Courtois.

But over the past week things have quickly changed; storm clouds are now rolling in over Madrid. And ahead of the biggest week of their season, with both the Champions League last-16 first leg against Manchester City and the Santiago Bernabeu Clasico, they woefully dropped points against Celta Vigo and then lost unexpectedly to Levante.

Their 0-1 fall at the Ciutat de Valencia, following up last week’s 2-2 draw at home against Celta, has seen them faltering with Barcelona smiling back top of the table with two points advantage.

Despite their emphatic triumph, Barcelona are still not playing particularly fluidly under Quique Setien, but having Messi is a good way to mask your problems.

Though the Argentine Star had gone over a month without a goal in LaLiga before Saturday, once he found his groove there was no hope for hapless Eibar, as he tore the visitors apart at will. With Goal.com

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