Messi Hits Four As Barcelona Hammer Eibar

 

      Lionel Messi added four more goals to his soaring early season tally as a much-changed Barcelona maintained their 100 percent start to La Liga by routing Eibar 6-1 on Tuesday.

   Paulinho and Denis Suarez also netted for the second consecutive game as Barca stretched their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points over Real Madrid, who host Real Betis on Wednesday. Earlier, Valencia moved up to third as Simone Zaza scored a seven-minute hat-trick in a 5-0 thrashing of Malaga. Barca boss Ernesto Valverde heavily rotated his side for the first time since taking charge with six changes from Saturday’s hard-fought 2-1 win at Getafe.

    

  And contrary to their fortunes last season, Barca’s back-ups proved Valverde can take the luxury of resting some of his star names with Paulinho particularly impressive on his first start. The hosts had goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to thank early on for not falling behind though as he made a smart save when one-on-one with Sergi Enrich just four minutes in. Messi opened the scoring in nonchalant fashion from the penalty spot on 21 minutes after Nelson Semedo had been felled by an ungainly challenge from Alejandro Galvez.

     

   Paulinho’s 40-million-euro ($48 million) signing from Guangzhou Evergrande was one of a series of moves that drew stinging criticism for Barca’s board following Neymar’s world-record departure for Paris Saint-Germain. However, after coming off the bench to score the winner at Getafe, Paulinho powered home his second Barca goal from Suarez’s corner seven minutes before half-time. Paulinho also played his part in Barca’s third with a cute dummy that freed Messi and, when his shot was parried by Marko Dmitrovic, Suarez fired home the rebound.

  

   Enrich reduced the arrears when he capitalised on some sloppy Barca defending to slot home David Junca’s cross. However, Messi quickly restored Barca’s three-goal lead with a lovely measured finish from the edge of the box. The five-time world player of the year completed his 43rd career hat-trick just after the hour mark by prodding through Dmitrovic’s legs from Paulinho’s pass. And he added his 12th goal in just eight games this season three minutes from time after a neat one-two with Aleix Vidal.

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