Barcelona 5-1 Sevilla: The day Messi finally became La Liga’s top scorer ever
Full-time: Barcelona 5-1 Sevilla
Goals: Messi (21′, 72′, 77′), Neymar (48′), Rakitic (64′)
Match date: November 22, 2014
Stadium:Â Camp Nou
Competition:Â La Liga
Barcelona line-up: Bravo, Jordi Alba, Mathieu, Piqué, Daniel Alves, Busquets, Rakitic, Xavi, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Suárez.
The return from the international break didn’t bring any unpleasant surprise for Barcelona, as the Blaugranas hosted and demolished Sevilla by 5-1 this Saturday night at the Camp Nou. The spotlight has obviously been on the Argentinian star Lionel Messi, who finally managed to break La Liga‘s all-time goalscoring record previously set by Telmo Zarra in 251 goals, and he has done it by scoring another impressive career hat-trick.
The 27-year old started showing bits of his magic right in the 21st minute of the first half, when he perfectly converted a free-kick near Sevilla‘s box to deliver the early lead to his side. The visitors didn’t exactly drop the towel though and reached the equalizer shortly after the game resumed for its second half. Vitolo made a good run down the left wing and after sending in a poisonous cross into the 6-yard box, he was glad to see Jordi Alba messing it up and deflecting into his own net.
There was still plenty of time to bounce back from that goal, but Barça didn’t waste any time. Just two minutes after the 1-1, Neymar restored the lead to the Blaugranas through a good but rare header finish. Xavi took the free-kick and the Brazilian superstar scored his 9th league goal this season to put Barcelona once again on the driving seat.
With Barça in complete control of the game, Sevilla ended up being torn apart in the remaining minutes of the second half. Rakitic made the 3-1 when Luis Suárez assisted him in the far post and then Messi scored another two goals, both of them coming from assists delivered by Neymar.
Barcelona‘s next game will now be against APOEL Nicosia, in a away Champions League fixture where Luis Enrique‘s men are expected to already confirm their qualification into the competition’s knockout stages. The match takes place next Tuesday, in Cyprus.
Sources: fcbarcelona.com / theguardian.com