The trickster

SEVILLE, February 23 

Lionel Messi scored his 50th career hat-trick to fire Barcelona to a 4-2 win at Sevilla on Saturday after the champions had twice fallen behind, giving the Catalans a 10-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Sevilla, who have only won once in the league in 2019, took the lead midway through the first half through veteran winger Jesus Navas but were soon pegged back by an unstoppable volley from Messi.

The home side capitalised on sleepy defending from Barca to re-take the lead before halftime as Gabriel Mercado pounced in the area.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde made two attacking changes at the start of the second period by introducing Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto and got the intended reaction when the France winger laid the ball off to Messi just inside the area and the Argentine lashed it into the top corner.

Messi, who has struggled for form in recent weeks due to a niggling injury, looked on a mission to grab the winner and after twice coming close he completed his treble to put Barca ahead in the 85th minute, reacting quickly to a poor Sevilla clearance to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik. Luis Suarez made sure of the points by scoring deep in stoppage time, chipping Vaclik after being played through by a pass from Messi.

Barca lead the standings on 57 points after 25 games while second-placed Atletico Madrid have 47 but can reduce the gap back to seven when they host Villarreal on Sunday. Sevilla fell to fifth, slipping out of the Champions League places behind Getafe.

“Messi is decisive and superlative, every team has decisive players but we have the best in the world,” said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde. “It’s not just his goals either, but because he always delivers in the right place at the right time.” 

Mbappe reaches half-century

paris: Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player in 45 years to reach 50 Ligue 1 goals as Paris St Germain beat visiting Nimes 3-0 on Saturday to stretch their lead at the top to 17 points.

Christopher Nkunku’s opener and Mbappe’s second half double maintained PSG’s 100 percent home record in the league this season and lifted them further clear of second-placed Lille.

Mbappe had two goals ruled out in the first half, one for offside and one for handball, but made amends after the interval as he finished from close range on 69 minutes to mark his half-century in the French top flight before finishing off a sweeping counter-attack. At the age of 20 years, two months and three days, the France striker became the youngest player since Yannick Stopyra in 1982 to reach the 50-goal landmark. — Reuters