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Barcelona 3-0 Valencia: Lionel Messi Hat-Trick Crushes Valencia+10 pics

136 views 15 March 2010

Lionel Messi was in the form of his life on Sunday evening when he helped Barcelona cruise to victory by scoring three goals against Valencia in La Liga at the Camp Nou.

There was no real signs of threat from Messi until the half-hour mark when the Valencia keeper Cesar had to come off his post to save the ball from a rapid Messi intending to get the opener.

Twice before half-time, Messi attempted to tear apart the Valencia defense, but the visitors just couldn’t afford to be dominated at the break.

Lionel Messi came back in the second period stronger, and the introduction of Thierry Henry after the restart proved to be extremely helpful to the 22-year Argentinian forward.

On 52 minutes, Henry’s low cross nearly turned into a goal subsequent to Messi’s first-time shot, but Valencia’s Cesar was alert to save the strike with his toes.

Three minutes later, Xavi set-up the FIFA Player of the Year, who made a trademark run inside the box by dribbling between three defenders before sending the ball home to make the score line 1-0 in favor of Barcelona.

Things became worse for Valencia shortly after when Maduro made a late tackle on Lionel Messi. Maduro was then sent-off, and with 10 men left on the field for Los Che, Barca were set to extend their lead.

This was made possible by Messi only ten minutes before the final whistle. A great long ball from Henry was superbly brought down by the Barcelona No. 10 winger, before fooling Angel Dealbert to scuff the ball home past a helpless Cesar.

The result was changed to 3-0 late in the game when Henry again provided Messi with a nice pass, which allowed the “Little Lionel” to outplay Dealbert again so as to drive the ball at the back of the net in the most teasing manner.

Lionel Messi now has 22 goals in La Liga top scoring chart, although Barcelona still remain second in the table behind Real Madrid despite having won 3-0 at home over Valencia.

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