The Liga leaders looked ready to stumble in Andalusia, so their star man delivered them the three points with a brilliant hat trick.
Barcelona went to one of the toughest stadiums in Europe and left with a 10-point lead at the top of the La Liga table thanks to an amazing 4-2 win against Sevilla. And there was also a hat-trick from Lionel Messi (50th career hat trick) against one of the best defensive teams in the league.
The first 20 minutes Barça had more of the possession as expected but they did absolutely nothing with it, while Sevilla looked well organized at the back, just waiting for the right opportunity to strike and score on the counter attacks.
And then they went on a very fast counter attack that ended with a nice pass from Ben Yedder and a smart finish from Jesús Navas. Barca replied quickly and that too came from Ivan Rakitic a great cross and a spectacular volley from Lionel Messi into the top corner.
Barça improved and started to press more after the goal while leaving spaces behind and were bound to concede again. Ter Stegen made that mistake by clearing very poorly, and Sevilla pounced by scoring their second goal by Gabriel Mecado converted from a cross by Pablo Sarabia.
Valverde made a double substitution at halftime, with Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembélé replacing Nélson Semedo and Arturo Vidal.
Barça looked better and were pressing the ball high up the pitch, forcing Sevilla into making worse passes and losing the ball in dangerous positions, and after that Barça equalized to another world class goal from Messi.
The visitors continued to attack after the equalizer as they tried to find a winner, so they brought Carles Aleñá off the bench to make the midfield more solid and free up Messi to focus solely on scoring the decisive goal. And the goal came when Aleñá’s shot which got deflected and into Messi’s feet, which he chipped over the keeper to make it 3-2 with five minutes to go.
Sevilla naturally sent everbody forward trying to find a late equalizer, but Ter Stegen and the Barça defense stayed solid. Then there was Luis Suárez to join the scoring party, after an amazing pass from Messi gave him all the time in the world to chip the keeper and make it 4-2.
The final whistle came to end an incredible second half and confirm a spectacular victory for the leaders. This was a champion’s win, and Messi is the GOAT.
Barcelona left Seville with all three points thanks to another hat-trick from captain Lionel Messi on Saturday. Lionel Messi once again haunted Sevilla as his hat-trick secured a 4-2 win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Saturday.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo (Roberto), Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Vidal (Dembélé), Busquets, Rakitic; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho (Aleñá).
Goals: Messi (26’, 67’, 85’), Suárez (90’+3)
Sevilla: Vaclik; Mercado (Vázquez), Kjaer, Gómez, Wöber (Amadou); Navas, Banega, Rog (Roque Mesa), Promes; Sarabia, Ben Yedder.
Goals: Navas (22’), Mercado (42’)
