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Lionel Messi Scores 30th Barcelona Hat-Trick In Rout of Deportivo
Lionel Messi scored the 30th hat-trick of his Barcelona career as his side beat Deportivo La Coruna to move one point behind leaders Real Madrid.
The Argentina forward, who missed out on winning the Ballon d’Or to Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday, opened the scoring with a looping header.
He netted again when he collected Neymar’s pass and dinked the ball over home goalkeeper Fabricio Agosto.
Messi grabbed his third with a low shot, before an own goal from Sidnei.
Ex-Barcelona winger Isaac Cuenca had a chance for Deportivo but shot over when the score was 2-0, although the hosts were comprehensively outclassed.
It was a dominant performance from Luis Enrique’s Barca, who had 68% possession and 14 attempts at goal with the only surprise being that they scored only four.
The future of Messi, La Liga’s all-time record goalscorer, has been questioned recently after he said “I don’t know where I’ll be next year”, although Enrique then insisted he would not sell the 27-year-old.
Messi has now scored six of his side’s last eight league goals and Barcelona’s victory was their 14th in 19 league matches this season.
He could have opened the scoring early on, but his low effort from 12 yards was scooped on to the crossbar by Agosto.
Nevertheless, Messi got his first a minute later, heading in Ivan Rakitic’s fine cross, before it became 2-0 when Messi showed great control and composure to lift the ball over the advancing Agosto.
He secured his 22nd La Liga treble – and his 30th in all competitions – when Deportivo lost concentration, enabling Rakitic to take a short corner to Messi, who sprinted into the penalty area, cut inside on to his left foot and arrowed a shot into the bottom corner.
It had been a miserable day for the hosts and it got worse when Alberto Lopo’s clearance bounced off helpless team-mate Sidnei and into his own net for Barcelona’s fourth.
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