WELCOME TO LIONEL MESSI BLOG

                     Pascal Gross and Brighton & Hove Albion had a great Saturday. Brighton, who finished second in the Championship and achieved automatic promotion to the Premier League, notched their first win of the season.

                                     BARCELONA: Barcelona have quickly put an agonising August behind them and taken the early lead of La Liga. 

                             Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as La Liga favourites Barcelona made it three wins from as many games with a 5-0 thrashing of city rivals Espanyol at the Nou Camp, ahead of their Champions League opener against Juventus tomorrow. 

                                                  BARCELONA: An insatiable Lionel Messi hit a hat-trick as Barcelona hammered Espanyol 5-0 in a local derby on Saturday to make it three wins from three and take full advantage after Liga champions Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Levante. The Argentine was handed a slice of luck with his first goal, which should have been ruled out for offside, and then showed no mercy to Espanyol, moving on to five goals in three league games as record signing Ousmane Dembele came off the bench in the second half to make his Barca debut.