Argentine star, Lionel Messi continued his remarkable run of form with a second-half double as Barcelona continued their march towards the La Liga title on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Espanyol.
The visitors gave their city rivals a tough game at the Camp Nou, but Messi’s chipped free-kick with 19 minutes to play and a late second sent the reigning champions 13 points clear at the top ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid’s game at Alaves later on Saturday.
Barcelona struggled for 70 minutes long. But then Messi comes along, scores a free-kick, kissed the Barcelona badge, and put’s them in front in the derby vs Espanyol. There is just no way of stopping him and his free-kicks.
— AFC Ajax 💫 (@TheEuropeanLad) March 30, 2019
Messi has now netted eight times in his last four games for Barca, and leads the way in the La Liga scoring charts with 31 goals, 13 ahead of teammate Luis Suarez.
Ernesto Valverde’s men struggled to break down Espanyol early on, with Messi, Suarez and Ivan Rakitic all wasting half-chances in the first period.
Barcelona saw a penalty appeal waved away by both the referee and VAR on the stroke of half-time, and Malcom was denied just after the hour mark by away goalkeeper Diego Lopez as the Catalan giants grew frustrated.
But Messi has been consistently unplayable this season, and he dinked in a wonderful effort from a set-piece despite Victor Sanchez’s best efforts to clear on the line.
Lionel Messi Amazing FreeKick Goal
— ALL IN ONE (@Soccerz1991) March 30, 2019
Barcelona Vs Espanyol#SofaScore #BAR #ESP pic.twitter.com/Xo3oFZRaaq
The points were sealed in the 89th minute as
Barcelona next visit Villarreal on Tuesday with a second successive title looking even more like a mere formality after a sixth straight victory extended their unbeaten league run to 17 matches.