Barcleona beat Real Betis 4-1 behind an utterly stunning hat-trick from Messi to restore its 10-point lead atop the La Liga table.
Messi was fabulous the entire match, completing 51 of 57 passes, including eight of nine inside the penalty area, and created three chances outside of his three goals. He opened the scoring in the 18th minute, depositing a classic free-kick into the top-left corner. Just before halftime, Luis Suarez did wonderful one-on-two work down the middle and fed a charging Messi through the back line for the finish in front of net.
In the 63rd minute, Suarez contributed to the scoreline with a stunning one-on-four breakaway that left three defenders on the ground in his wake before he slotted past Pau Lopez. To finish things off, Messi grabbed his hat-trick in the 85th minute with the best of the bunch, blasting a one-touch left-footed strike from a tight angle that curled up and over Lopez and into the far corner, an absolute beauty fitting of the moment.
The home Real Betis fans saw the brilliance in the accomplishment, so much that they cheered Messi to the point where he gave back the love postgame. “I don’t remember a night like this,” Messi said to beIN Sports after the match. “I’m very grateful for the way the fans responded here.”
Real Valladolid earned all three points in stunning fashion with a 2-1 comeback win with both goals coming in stoppage time. Fabian Orellana put Eibar in front in the 54th minute, but Daniele Verde bagged a penalty in the first minute of added time after a VAR review, and Sergi Guardiola was on hand to earn the win in the 93rd minute winner.
Sevilla scrapped to a 1-0 victory over Espanyol in a game that featured 25 total shots but just six on target split both ways, with both teams finishing down a man. Wissam Ben Yedder scored the game’s only goal, coming from the spot after Mario Hermoso clearly bundled over Andre Silva right on the left edge of the area. The game finished with both Sergi Darder and Juan Soriano receiving red cards after the final whistle to cap off an otherwise dull match.
Meanwhile, Valencia and Getafe played to a 0-0 draw that featured just three total shots on target, allowing Sevilla to climb three points ahead of Valencia in sixth, a point back of fifth-placed Alaves and three behind fourth-placed Getafe.
Finally, Villareal took care of Rayo Vallecano 3-1 with a second-half comeback. The visitors went in front in the 20th minute at El Madrigal, with Mario Suarez producing a fabulous header that picked out the far corner from a good distance out. Yet, in the 50th minute, it all began to go wrong for Rayo as Emiliano Velazquez unluckily deflected a cross right to Karl Toko Ekambi waiting on the doorstep for the finish.
Ekambi picked out his brace just two minutes later on a wonderful feed from Vicente Ibora right through the channel for the one-on-one finish. As the game wore on, Villareal killed things off in the 88th minute via Gerard Moreno thanks to a brilliant long-distance switch by Manuel Morlanes. The win pushed Villareal four points clear of the drop in 17th place, while Rayo Vallecano remained in 19th, two back of Celta Vigo in 18th and seven from safety.
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