Sports

Messi hits treble as Ousmane Dembele gets assist on debut

Published

7 years ago

September 9, 2017

Barcelona romped to a 5-0 win over Espanyol in the 167th Catalan derby thanks to a 38th career hat-trick from Lionel Messi on Sunday.

Messi slotted home from an Ivan Rakitic through-ball midway through the first half, despite replays showing the Argentinean was clearly off side when the ball was played.

Jordi Alba slipped in Messi for his second and the full-back repeated the trick shortly after the break as Messi and Barca made it three.

Gerard Pique powered in header for 4-0 before €135m Ousmane Dembele making his debut set up Luis Suarez for a simple last-minute tap in, as Barca cruised to the top of the La Liga table.

Barca received a massive slice of fortune early on when the linesman failed to spot Messi had strayed offside from Rakitic’s pass, and their luck was in again when the ball ricocheted off Espanyol defender Pape Diop and into the path of Alba who teed up Messi for his second.

Espanyol came close to reducing the deficit when Pablo Piatti’s superb drive struck Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s post but a lack of ambition cost Quique Sanchez Flores’s side who wilted under the hosts’ late onslaught.

Alba was creator again when he pulled back for Messi to crash in his third after good link-up play with Suarez, as the Argentinean celebrated an astonishing 38th treble in Barca’s colours.

Pique bullied Espanyol defender Hermoso to send a bullet header past stricken goalkeeper Pau Lopez as the visitors’ resistance crumbled, before the 20 year-old Dembele gave a glimpse of what is to come when he beat the offside trap and showed great vision to set up Surez, as Barca made a mockery of early-season talk of a crisis.