Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Málaga 1 Barcelona 4
Lionel Messi scored his fifth hat-trick of the season as Barcelona cruised to a 4-1 over Málaga and, temporarily at least, move to within two points of Real Madrid.
Víctor Valdes made three fine saves to deny Isco giving the hosts the lead early on, but Barca took control just after the half-hour mark as Messi gave Willy Caballero no chance with a towering header from Adriano’s cross.
And the visitors made sure of the three points with two quick-fire goals early in the second-half as Alexis Sanchez fired home from close range before Messi got his second of the day with a wonderful run and finish.
The Argentine completed his hat-trick on 81 minutes as he again left the Málaga defence in his wake before slipping the ball past Caballero from a narrow angle, but Salomon Rondon did get a consolation for the hosts five minutes later with a neat finish after Valdes had parried Recio’s effort.
Before today Messi had scored just once away from home all season in the league, but he showed his intent with the first effort of the game on nine minutes that was deflected just wide.
Soon after though it was Valdes who showed his worth with three saves from Isco to keep the champions level. The Spanish international firstly tipping the Malaga midfielder’s fine long-range effort wide and from the resulting corner Valdes got down well to parry Isco’s headed effort before smothering the rebound.
Eric Abidal scored only his second goal for Barcelona on Wednesday but he was nearly in for another as he was played through by Messi but Caballero did well to force the Frenchman wide and shuttle the ball away from danger.
The breakthrough did come for the visitors on 31 minutes and the manner of its arrival was surprising even if the name of goalscorer wasn’t as Adriano’s cross from the left met by a rare header by Messi into the bottom corner.
Barcelona had dropped points on five of their previous eight away league games this season, but they made sure there would be no slip-up this time with a stunning five-minute spell after the break.
Firstly, Sanchez doubled their advantage as he tapped in after Caballero had twice denied Thiago and then Messi won the ball in midfield and embarked on a trademark run that took him beyond compatriot Martín Demichelis before passing the ball with ease into Caballero’s right-hand corner.
The Argentine came within inches of a hat-trick as his free-kick from 25 yards came back off the underside of the bar with 17 minutes remaining but he wasn’t to be denied another three-goal haul as he ran from the halfway line past Demichelis and Joris Mathijsen before slotting the ball past Caballero.
Málaga responded well in the final 10 minutes and pulled one back as Valdes could only parry substitute Recio’s initial effort only into the path of Rondon who swept home. And the Venezeulan and Seba Fernandez both had chances to cut Barcelona’s advatantage even further but both headed narrowly wide.
In the end though there was only one story and that was quite simply another performance of sheer brilliance from the World Player of the Year.
FT: Málaga 1 (Rondon 86) Barcelona 4 (Messi 33, 51 & 82, Sanchez 51)
