Tuesday, 3 September 2013 00:00
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REUTERS: World Player of the Year Lionel Messi netted a first-half hat-trick as Barcelona extended their winning start to their La Liga title defence with an action-packed 3-2 win at Valencia on Sunday.
A matter of hours before they sealed the purchase of Wales winger Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid racked up a maximum nine points when they beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the Bernabeu, while Atletico Madrid also made it three wins in three with a 2-1 success at Real Sociedad.
Barca were cruising in an entertaining contest at the Mestalla after Messi struck in the 10th and 39th minutes from Cesc Fabregas assists before Neymar set the Argentine up for his third in the 41st. Valencia stormed back with two goals from Helder Postiga on the stroke of halftime, including an acrobatic volley, Messi uncharacteristically squandered three golden opportunities late on and goalkeeper Victor Valdes saved Barca with a fingertip save onto the post from an 86th-minute Jonas effort.
Messi missed last weekend’s 1-0 win at Malaga with a bruised thigh and although he fluffed those late chances on Sunday he looked close to his scintillating best.
It was the third treble before halftime of his career and at the age of only 26 he is now the sixth highest scorer in La Liga with 220 goals, surpassing Quini’s 219 and closing in on the record of 251 held by Telmo Zarra.
In-form playmaker Isco earlier struck twice and Cristiano Ronaldo netted his first goal of the campaign to give Luka Modric-inspired Real victory over Bilbao.
The comfortable win in an unusual midday kickoff at the Bernabeu extended Real’s dominance of the Basques and they have put 22 goals past them in their last four league meetings in the Spanish capital.
