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| BARCELONA: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (R) scores past Granada goalkeeper Roberto during their La Liga match at the Nou Camp.—Reuters |
Messi scored twice, his 358th and 359th goals for Barca along with 42 for Argentina, while Ivan Rakitic scored the other in Barca’s rout at the Nou Camp which saw them move to 16 points from six games.
“Messi is someone who has been touched by a magic wand and he is desperate to enjoy playing football,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.
“I was thinking about taking him off but I enjoy watching him so much that I left him on for the 90 minutes. Watching Leo press on defence and being so generous in attack is a pleasure.”
Defending champions Atletico Madrid are on Barca’s tail as they beat previously undefeated Sevilla 4-0 in the return of coach Diego Simeone that left them two points behind in second.
Simeone coached his first league match of the season after being suspended from the touchline for the first five matches and set-piece goals by Jorge ‘Koke’ Resurreccion and Saul Niguez, a Raul Garcia penalty and a late Raul Jimenez header saw them ease to victory at the Vicente Calderon.
Real Madrid are also in hot pursuit, four points behind in fifth, after Cristiano Ronaldo kept up his rich scoring form with the second goal in a 2-0 win at Villarreal where Luka Modric had put them ahead.
The trio are all in action in the Champions League in midweek with Barca heading to Paris St Germain on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Atletico host Juventus and Real travel to Bulgaria to play Ludogorets.
Spain’s fourth representative in Europe’s premier club competition, Athletic Bilbao, meanwhile drew 0-0 at home with neighboring Basque club Eibar to remain winless in five straight games ahead of their match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.
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