Barcelona returned to the top of La Liga with a
comfortable win over Granada, who, like so many
before them, had no answer to Lionel MessiBarcelona
moved back to the top of La Liga - at least until
Atletico Madrid play on Sunday - with an emphatic 4-0
win over Granada at Camp Nou on Saturday.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick, with Neymar
completing the rout late on as Luis Enrique's side
coasted through the match in second gear.
Here Goal take a look at five talking points to come
out of Barça's latest victory...
Lionel Messi offered a gentle reminder of why he’s
the red hot favourite to be crowned the world’s best
player for the fifth time in Zurich on Monday with a
hat-trick against Granada.
His first goal arrived after just eight minutes, he
added his second in the 14th minute and completed
his treble in the second half - although he almost
poked the ball over after Neymar’s shot had deflected
back off the post.
The only surprise was that, somehow, this was
Messi’s first three-goal haul in 10 months. However,
since his last one he’s still managed to do enough to
find himself on the Ballon d’Or podium once again.
Along with Luis Enrique, Neymar, Dani Alves and
Andres Iniesta, Messi heads off to Switzerland in two
days having scored or assisted seven of Barça’s eight
goals in 2016. There’s a good chance he’ll be in the
final three again next year.
Friday was a good day for traffic to Dani Alves’
Instagram page. The Brazilian full-back posted a rant
about the press, summing them up - all of them - as
“****ing trash”.
Barça released a statement distancing themselves
from their player’s views in the afternoon, but by the
evening they’d released another comment backing
him after the Association of Spanish Sports Press
(AEPD) threatened legal action.
Saturday wasn’t such a good day for Dani Alves’
playing career, though. He watched on from the
bench as new signing Aleix Vidal, six years younger
than him, took his place - a glimpse into the future,
perhaps?
Still, the home support still love, Alves, even if he’s
ruined some of his friendships with the media this
week. He came on in the second half to vociferous
roars of approval, followed by chants of his name to
the tune of “We will rock you”.
Like a duck to water. That’s the old cliche you could
reel out to describe Arda Turan’s start to life at
Barcelona.
The Turkey international looks right at home in Luis
Enrique’s star studded team. It probably has
something to do with the fact he’s been training with
his new team-mates and getting to know them for the
last six months.
He set up Messi’s first goal here - his first recordable
achievement in a blaugrana shirt - but it was his all
round play and ease on the pitch, especially around
Messi, which stood out for the second game running.
Messi’s third goal arrived after a neat dummy from
Arda in the build up, with the 28-year-old then trotting
off to be replaced by Adriano for the final quarter of
the match. Job done.
Alves wasn’t the only one causing a stir online this
week. Gerard Pique, as has become customary this
season, also cooked up a storm on Twitter when he
re-posted a video of Espanyol fans in 2014 abusing
Milan and Shakira, his son and partner.
“You will never understand,” he wrote, with the
comment not just directed at Espanyol fans, but also
the people associated with the club who had
criticised him for taking a dig about Barça’s city rivals
being unable to fill stadium.
The Camp Nou crowd were quite happy with what
they saw from their central defender on social media.
They hoisted up a banner before the game reading
“We are all Pique” in Catalan and serenaded him with
songs throughout the first half.
Also, for the first time in a while, they aimed some
chants across the city at Espanyol, too. The Catalan
rivalry is back. At least for now.
Barça and Real Madrid have been vying for attention
this week. Half the Spanish sports press have been
dealing with the fall-out from the Catalan derby; the
other half have been covering Zinedine Zidane’s
appointment as Los Blancos' new boss.
The Frenchman, an icon at the Santiago Bernabeu,
replaced the sacked Rafael Benitez on Monday and
later on Saturday takes charge of his first game
against Deportivo La Coruna.
However, it’s going to be difficult for him to satisfy
the need thirst for trophies in the Spanish capital
based on this convincing Barca display. Having both
played 18 games, Luis Enrique’s side have a five point
gap.
On top of that, Madrid have been thrown out of the
Copa del Rey, so they won’t be winning that this year.
If Zidane can get off to a good start, though,
momentum can do funny things.
Source :goal.com
