Espanyol 0-4 Barcelona: Messi massacre after Ballon d'Or snub
The Argentine scored two brilliant goals and set up one for Ousmane Dembele
On Monday Lionel Messi was judged to be the fifth best player in the world.
ESP
0 ________________ 4
BAR
LINE UP
RCD Espanyol
Diego López; Javi López, David López, Duarte, Dídac Vilà; Marc Roca, Darder (Granero, 74'), Víctor Sánchez; Hernán Pérez (Baptistao, 59'), Melendo (Sergio García, 53') y Borja Iglesias
FC Barcelona
Ter Stegen, Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Busquets, Rakitic (Denis, 81'), Arturo Vidal, Dembélé (Coutinho, 68'), Messi y Luis Suárez (Munir, 78')
Goles
0-1, Messi (16'); 0-2, Dembélé (25'); 0-3, Suárez (44'); 0-4, Messi (64')
Árbitro
Del Cerro Grane (madrileño). TA: Dídac Vilà (78')
Incidencias
RCDE Stadium, 24.037 espectadores. Es Espanyol rindió homanaje al periodista fallecito Juan Segura Palomares. Fue director de relaciones institucionales e historiador del club.
On Saturday he showed just how wrong that was.
The Argentine star scored two sensational free-kicks to help Barca thrash crosstown rivals Espanyol and move three points clear at the top of La Liga.
Barcelona annihilated their opponents in a sensational first half display which saw Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez on the scoresheet.
Messi’s 17th minute free-kick left Diego Lopez with no chance.
Then the forward produced a brilliant dribble and pass to set free Dembele for the second, taken expertly by the Frenchman.
Dembele set up Suarez for the third, with the Uruguayan bundling his way through and drilling home from the tightest of angles on the stroke of half time, to mark his return from injury.
Messi wrong-footed Diego Lopez with another free-kick after the break to seal the win and Oscar Duarte had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR as Barca saw out the game without fuss.