BARCELONA: Barcelona have quickly put an agonising August behind them and taken the early lead of La Liga.
An insatiable Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick as Barcelona
hammered Espanyol 5-0 in a local derby on Saturday, making them the only
side so far to win their first three games.
Real Madrid fell four points adrift and sit in sixth place after they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Levante.
Atletico
Madrid also trail Barca by four points as without the suspended Antoine
Griezmann they drew a blank in an intense 0-0 draw at Valencia.
Sevilla moved up to second, just two points behind the
leaders, as they warmed up for their Champions League match at
Liverpool on Wednesday by easing past Eibar 3-0 with goals from Paulo
Henrique Ganso, Wissam Ben Yedder and Nolito.
Barca
entered the campaign reeling from the unwanted departure of Neymar to
Paris St Germain last month and a stinging loss to Real in the Spanish
Super Cup by the aggregate score of 5-1.
But new coach
Ernesto Valverde has refocused his players on the league, and Messi has
done the rest by scoring five goals to lead the competition.
“We
are at the start of the season and the differences are not significant,
but it sure is better to be ahead than behind,” Valverde said.
Even
better for their long-term prospects than the lopsided win, the player
who Barca signed to help fill the hole left by Neymar had a positive
debut.
France forward Ousmane Dembele went on as a
second-half substitute and set up Luis Suarez to complete the demolition
of Espanyol.
The 20-year-old Dembele produced the kind
of speed Barcelona wanted from him when he raced down the right flank to
reach a long pass and then deliver a precise low cross for Suarez to
score.
“I saw Dembele showing attitude, daring to do
things,” Valverde said. “We have big expectations for him. It is about
helping him come along.” Gerard Pique also scored for Barca, who host
Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Messi led
the way with a virtuoso performance, but his 26th-minute opener also
needed a huge slice of luck as he was wrongly not flagged offside from
Ivan Rakitic’s through ball before blasting into the top corner.
Barca’s
second arrived thanks to a counter-attack from an Espanyol corner led
by Messi and Luis Suarez before Jordi Alba’s low cross was slotted home
at the near post by the Argentine 10 minutes before half-time.
Messi
completed his treble midway through the second half by finishing off a
sweeping team move, lashing home another pass from Alba from inside the
area.
Dembele had to wait until 22 minutes from time for
his debut and the 20-year-old showed why Barca have made him the third
most expensive player ever as his pinpoint cross was swept home by
Suarez to round off the scoring after Pique had headed home Barca’s
fourth.
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