Messi scores hat-trick in Barca’s 5-1 derby rout of Espanyol

DPA/Madrid Barcelona came from behind to thump crosstown rivals Espanyol 5-1 on Sunday, with a hat-trick from Lionel Messi plus goals from Gerard Pique and Pedro. The emphatic rout left Barca in second place in La Liga, two points behind leaders Real Madrid, who scored their 11th straight win on Saturday with a 3-0 trouncing of Celta Vigo from Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick. Barca are two points above third-placed Atletico Madrid, who won 2-0 at Elche on Saturday. Ronaldo is top of the scorers’ chart with 23 goals, 10 ahead of a Messi who seems to be returning to top form after a somewhat flat period by his high standards. Espanyol took a shock lead in the Camp Nou through former Spain and Barca striker Sergio Garcia in the 13th minute with a near-post drive, after team-mate Felipe Caicedo had stolen the ball from a sluggish Sergio Busquets out on the right. Messi then turned the match around almost single-handedly. He hit the Espanyol crossbar with a clever free-kick, made it 1-1 just before half-time with a low drive from his legendary left foot, and 2-1 shortly after the restart with a right-foot drive, after being played through by Luis Suarez. Pique increased Barca’s lead by heading in a corner, Barca’s first goal from a corner in nine months, and it broke the resistance of hapless Espanyol. The one-way traffic continued and substitute Pedro made it 4-1 after good work down the left by Jordi Alba, then set up Messi to complete his hat-trick. “It was a complicated match. We were much better in the second half, when we corrected our mistakes,” Pique said. When asked about Messi, the Spain defender said: “Words do not exist to describe him. He has given us so much over the years, and continues to do so week after week.”  The impressive win was just what Barca needed ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League showdown against French champions Paris St-Germain. Sevilla kept fourth place, three points below Atletico, with a 1-0 win at mid-table Rayo Vallecano. The lone goal came in the eighth minute when Sevilla defender Nico Pareja played a long hopeful ball forward, Rayo defenders Antonio Amaya and Cristian Alvarez failed to coordinate, and Sevilla striker Carlos Bacca cleverly sneaked between them to make it 1-0. Sevilla missed further chances to kill the game off with a second goal, and substitute Manucho almost equalized for Rayo at then end. Sevilla held out despite having Portuguese defender Daniel Carrico sent off for a second yellow card offence three minutes from time. “We knew this was going to be a difficult match, and it was. Rayo always make things hard for their opponents, on their small pitch,” Bacca said. “We played a good match today, though we had to suffer a little towards the end.”