Lionel Messi almost single-handedly dragged Barcelona from behind to claim a 4-2 win over Sevilla they barely deserved.
Indeed, the Spanish champions and La Liga table-toppers looked on course for a damaging defeat for much of this match at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, but a hat-trick from Messi saw the Catalans escape with an important three points to extent their lead at the top of the table to 10 points.
Sevilla took the lead after 22 minutes when Jesus Navas slid a finish on the counter attack past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. However, Messi equalised in stunning fashion with a Zinedine Zidane-esque volley from an Ivan Rakitic cross.
Gabriel Mercado scored a second for the hosts to give them a lead at the break that they merited. But Ernesto Valverde made a couple changes at the break which gave Barcelona fresh impetuous.
Messi equalised for a second time with an astonishing right-foot finish into the top corner of the net and then completed his hat-trick, and the comeback, with an opportunistic chipped finish over Tomas Vaclik. As if that wasn’t enough, Messi put on an assist in stoppage time as Luis Suarez put the finishing touches on the win.
– Eurosport
