While it was a Saturday not worth being remembered for Sevilla, it was a memorable encounter for Barcelona and their Argentine talisman. The Spanish champions haven't been at the peak of their game in recent weeks. Many have connected their slack to Lionel Messi's little drop of form after coming back from an injury he sustained in a 2-2 match with Valencia.
The slack by the team have raised doubts in recent times about the possibility of Barcelona surviving the heat of the Champions league. You will recall that in the beginning of the season when Andres Iniesta retired from Barcelona and the team's leadership fell on Messi, the Argentine and Father of three made it clear that he has the quest to lead the team to another European silverware after some years now.
Well, that dream is not lost in so far as Messi is fit for the games. With him steering the wheels, the Catalan giants have nothing to worry about. Don't be surprised when you hear most Barcelona fans praying more for Messi's fitness than for Barcelona to win a match. With the former answered, the team is always good to go. No doubt, every team has star man, but I think Lionel Messi has attained the status of a god in Barcelona.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sometimes, I do wonder what Barcelona will be like when Messi retires from the club. Are the coaching crew and management prepared for his retirement, or they will continue to bank on the Argentine to be their only source of motivation? A holistic look at the team's below-standard performance in their previous games, one thing was obvious, and that's the fact that Messi wasn't at his best.
He seems to be the only strand holding the team now, and if he goes down, there is a high possibility that Valverde's side will be far from their best. Anyway you wanna see it, Messi can be defined as Barcelona, and Barcelona team seems to have only one definition, and that's Messi. On Saturday, Sevilla were just unlucky to meet him when he seems to have picked up full form. No matter how they tried, their age-long serpent's venom was there to neutralize their efforts.
The win against Sevilla on Saturday took Barcelona ten points clear of Second place Athletico Madrid, though the later have a game at hand. It was their seventeenth win after twenty-five games in La lagi this season. The team have also played six draws and have lost just two games in the league. Suarez's fourth goal for the Spanish champions made it 65 goals for Barcelona this season in the league. If you asked me, I would say they have won the league already.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Messi Steps Up To Fire Barcelona Past A Resilient Sevilla side
It had appeared like the Spanish champions will dash their foot again on the rock against Sevilla on Saturday, however, it took the magic and masterful performance of their talisman to save them from what would have been a threat to Barcelona's title defense. For Sevilla, there is no worse nightmare than facing a Lionel Messi in a match. In fact, it seems the Argentine has a penchant of scoring against Sevilla, and that is a demoralizing thought for the home side at Andalusia.
With the way Sanchez-Pizjuan side played yesterday against the defending champions, it will only beat ones imagination how they were left empty handed after the game, allowing their visitors to come from behind and steal the Victory. Sevilla fans may never forgive Lionel Messi in decades to come, and their dream of lifting the Primera division will only become more feasible the day they wake up to Messi's retirement.
It took Messi's venom to make a mess of Sevilla's efforts as he netted a hat-trick to ensure that Barcelona finished the game with a 4-2 win. It was the 50th hat-trick of his career. He has gotten 44 hat-tricks under Barcelona shirt and half gotten 6 under Argentina shirt. He hasn't really been at the peak of his game in recent times, but he had to make sure he tool all the glory against Sevilla and subject them their 8th defeat in the league this season.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Battle In Andalusia Wasn't A Rollercoaster Ride
Barcelona had a difficult first half, and at a point I thought the Spanish champions were going to open the league again for Athletico and Real Madrid to contend for. A loss would have thrown the title race open again and would have increased the chances of the other two foes closing in on the leaders. Though Barcelona is having many enemies to battle, they have stayed put and in control of their sail.
They have a motivated Lyon side to face in the Champions league and a rejuvenated Los Blancos side to face in both Copa del rey on Wednesday and later in the league on Saturday. A loss wouldn't have augured well for Barcelona ahead of those challenges, they just had to win to keep their confidence high.
The former Manchester city winger Jesus Navas to drew the first blood on a counter after Messi lost possession of the ball high up the pitch. If they was anything Messi couldn't condone, it was the guilt of being the reason for the team led by him to be defeated. Also, the comments over the weeks about Barcelona's decline, his below-standard performances and perhaps the arm injury he sustained against Sevilla in October, all added up to Mess's rage.
Ivan Rakitic's awesome volley was all it took to set up Messi for his first goal of the evening, thereby equalising Jesus Navas's goal and pulling Barcelona back into the game. However, Sevilla were back on the lead before halftime break, thanks yo Gabriel Mercado's goal. The Argentine was ready for the evening, and not even a determined Sevilla side could keep him at bay.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Spanish champions captain drove another mouthwatering shot into the top corner from the edge of the box, and guess what? With his right foot. Many would have been surprised with the accuracy at which he executed the second goal with his weaker foot, I was surprised too. However, having been Messi that scored it, it didn't take me long to stop being surprised.
With Luis Suarez still out of his striking spark, the Uruguayan once again proved that he was yet to find is attacking bearing. He contributed very little to the build up as luck seems to be eluding him of recent. He had requested for a penalty when he was brought down by Simon Kjaer, but he was ignored by the officials. The referee didn't even consult the VAR.
Stoppage time later saw the Uruguayan forward net a goal to add to the rally, thanks to Messi's brilliant assist. Luis Suarez will remaining eternally indebted to his striking partner, as Messi has been his backbone in his Barcelona journey. His goal against Sevilla was his 16th of the season. The Argentine has continued to feed him with balls week in week out, but Suarez's profligacy has seen him criticized in recent times.
I hope Suarez picks up from yesterday's goal, it's been six games now since he scored last. It should go a long way to boost his confidence ahead of Barcelona Clasico clashes with their arch rivals Real Madrid. Also, Philippe Coutinho still have a lot to do to up his game. The Brazilian doesn't look like he his going to improve anytime soon, as he made little impact in yesterday's game.
He will later be replaced by the La Masia Academy brought up Alena, who seem to have made more impact than all Coutinho's 79 minutes on the pitch. It was the young starlet's deflected shot that helped Lionel Messi produce his typical chipping goal above a helpless Thomas Vaclik to seal his 50th hat-trick and his 25th goal in La Liga this season.
“It was really important to win today, now really tough games are coming up,” said Messi in a rare chat with beIN Sports after the game. “We leave here happy because it was a big triumph. It’s always hard here at this stadium. We can't always play at a great level. We found it hard to finish but today we were ourselves again and we had a great game and the goals came too."
Comments