Spanish La Liga
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Sevilla 2-4 Barcelona: Lionel Messi scores 50th hat-trick in win

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi has scored 650 goals in his career for Barcelona and Argentina

Lionel Messi scored the 50th hat-trick of his career as Barcelona came from behind to beat Sevilla and go 10 points clear at the top of La Liga.

In a masterclass from the Catalans' captain, he first equalised with a brilliant volley from 16 yards.

He levelled for a second time with a curling shot from the edge of the box.

Messi then chipped Tomas Vaclik for his third, his 36th goal in 35 games against Sevilla, before setting up Luis Suarez for an injury-time fourth.

It really was a one-man show with Barcelona not playing particularly well as they extended their lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid, who host Villarreal on Sunday.

Sevilla - who are out of form - took the lead twice in the first half from a Jesus Navas counter-attack strike and Gabriel Mercado's eight-yard finish.

Messi does it again

At the age of 31, Messi shows no signs of slowing down. His treble takes him up to 25 La Liga goals for the season, an average of one every 75 minutes. He is nine clear of Suarez in second place and almost twice the top scorer of any other team, Cristhian Stuani's 13 for Girona.

In all competitions, he has 33 goals in 32 games - including six in the Champions League as Barcelona chase the treble.

His third goal was his 650th career strike - 585 for Barca and 65 for Argentina.

All his goals were excellent with his first, a left-footed volley from Ivan Rakitic's cross, a contender for goal of the season.

His second was a fine curling effort with his right foot from Ousmane Dembele's pass. And, with five minutes to go, he clipped the ball over the goalkeeper after Carles Alena's shot was blocked.

Late on he played an excellent ball over the top for Suarez to end a five-game goalless run.

Line-ups

Sevilla

Formation 4-4-1-1

  • 1Vaclik
  • 25MercadoSubstituted forVázquezat 51'minutesBooked at 70mins
  • 4KjaerBooked at 80mins
  • 3Gómez
  • 14WöberBooked at 57minsSubstituted forAmadouat 58'minutes
  • 16Navas
  • 10Banega
  • 20RogBooked at 49minsSubstituted forMesaat 62'minutesBooked at 90mins
  • 21Promes
  • 17SarabiaBooked at 83mins
  • 9Ben Yedder

Substitutes

  • 5Amadou
  • 7Mesa
  • 12André Silva
  • 13Soriano
  • 19El Haddadi
  • 22Vázquez
  • 23Arana Lopes

Barcelona

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1ter Stegen
  • 2Nélson SemedoSubstituted forRobertoat 45'minutes
  • 3PiquéBooked at 38mins
  • 23Umtiti
  • 18Alba
  • 22VidalSubstituted forDembéléat 45'minutes
  • 5Busquets
  • 4Rakitic
  • 10Messi
  • 9Suárez
  • 7CoutinhoSubstituted forAleñáat 79'minutes

Substitutes

  • 11Dembélé
  • 14Malcom
  • 15Lenglet
  • 17Murillo
  • 20Roberto
  • 21Aleñá
  • 30Peña
Referee:
Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz
Attendance:
40,761

Match Stats

Home TeamSevillaAway TeamBarcelona
Possession
Home40%
Away60%
Shots
Home13
Away17
Shots on Target
Home4
Away8
Corners
Home3
Away8
Fouls
Home15
Away11

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Sevilla 2, Barcelona 4.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Sevilla 2, Barcelona 4.

  3. Goal!

    Goal! Sevilla 2, Barcelona 4. Luis Suárez (Barcelona) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Lionel Messi with a through ball.

  4. Post update

    Foul by Luis Suárez (Barcelona).

  5. Post update

    Roque Mesa (Sevilla) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  6. Booking

    Roque Mesa (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card.

  7. Post update

    Corner, Barcelona. Conceded by Simon Kjaer.

  8. Post update

    Corner, Barcelona. Conceded by Simon Kjaer.

  9. Post update

    Attempt missed. Franco Vázquez (Sevilla) left footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the left.

  10. Post update

    Attempt saved. Sergi Gómez (Sevilla) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner. Assisted by Pablo Sarabia with a cross.

  11. Post update

    Corner, Sevilla. Conceded by Marc-André ter Stegen.

  12. Post update

    Attempt saved. Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner.

  13. Goal!

    Goal! Sevilla 2, Barcelona 3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.

  14. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Carles Aleñá (Barcelona) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Sergi Roberto.

  15. Post update

    Foul by Carles Aleñá (Barcelona).

  16. Post update

    Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  17. Booking

    Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  18. Post update

    Jordi Alba (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

  19. Post update

    Foul by Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla).

  20. Post update

    Attempt blocked. Carles Aleñá (Barcelona) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

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Scores, Results & Fixtures

Saturday 23rd February 2019

As It Stood

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Barcelona25176265254057
2Atl Madrid24138334171747
3Real Madrid24143741291245
4Getafe25109632221039
5Sevilla2510784032837
6Alavés2510782528-337
7Real Sociedad249783025534
8Real Betis249692730-333
9Ath Bilbao2571262528-333
10Valencia2461442420432
11Eibar2571083335-231
12Levante2486103643-730
13Espanyol2586112838-1030
14Leganés247892530-529
15Girona246992534-927
16Real Valladolid2468101929-1026
17Celta Vigo2567123643-725
18Villarreal2441192631-523
19Rayo Vallecano2565142843-1523
20Huesca2547142441-1719
View full Spanish La Liga table