Messi hits hat-trick to inspire Barca against Malaga

Alexia Krause January 23, 2012 0

Messi hits hat-trick to inspire Barca against Malaga

BARCELONA: The Argentinean forward Lionel Messi once again showed his charisma on the field on Sunday night when he scored his 14^th hat-trick for Barcelona to help them to a crushing 4-1 victory over Malaga in the Spanish La Liga.

The victory also propelled the Barcelona to just two points away from the league leaders Real Madrid.

Messi has been an inspirational individual in the Barca and his goals in the 33^rd, 50^th, and 80^th minutes further cemented his reputation as the main difference between the two sides as he collected 22 goals for the Spanish soccer club this season.

Messi overtook his side’s bitter rivals Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the Spanish La Liga’s top scorer with tonight’s hat-trick as the Portuguese has 21 goals to his name so far this season.

Real Madrid also have an outing against Athletic Bilbao later on Sunday.

Tonight’s game against Malaga was important in a way that Barca coach Pep Guardiola didn’t want all of his stars to be part of the action especially ahead of the King’s Cup quarter-final (2^nd leg) against Real Madrid on Wednesday and decided against launching Carles Puyol, Cesc Fabregas and Xavi Hernandez.

Alexis Sanchez scored the other goal for Barca at the start of the second half while substitute Jose Rondon scored the consolation goal for Malaga.

Guardiola had nothing but praise for his key man Messi. “To be consistent over a long period is very difficult and he has now rediscovered his touch in front of goal and that is very important for the games ahead,” he said adding, “We have had an excellent first half of the season and our rival have taken some of the credit away from us but still we have dropped too many points where we shouldn’t have done.”

Messi told reporters, “There is a long way to go, all the second half of the season, and we will keep pushing all the way”.

In another match of the La Liga, Valencia, who are third in the league standings, could manage a 1-1 draw at Osasuna after a stoppage-time equalizer further augmented their wounds which were still alive after they were reduced to 10 men.

Mallorca defended well enough to secure 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano while last placed Zaragoza managed to draw their game against Levante.