‘Messi from another planet’

HOME SWEET HOME Four goals against Eibar help him achieve 300thgoal landmark at Camp Nou

Another standout performance, another milestone for Lionel Messi. The Barcelona superstar struck four times in a 6-1 thrashing of Eibar in La Liga on Tuesday.

Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot and then netted three times in the second half of the comfortable win. With his latest display, the 30-year-old brought up 300 goals for Barcelona at Camp Nou.

Messi’s superb performance was lauded by team-mate Nelson Semedo who said that the striker was from “another planet”.

The Argentina international has scored 12 goals in eight games in all competitions this season, including nine in five La Liga games, leaving his team-mates and coach Ernesto Valverde marvelling at his exploits once more.

Semedo, who played 90 minutes in the big win, said he continued to be stunned by what Messi could produce. “Messi is spectacular,” the Portugal international said. “It’s a privilege to play with him, he always surprise, he’s from another planet.”

Barca coach Valverde too sung Messi’s praises after watching Barca go five points clear at the top. “He is the most intelligent player that I have seen on a football pitch,” he said. “You don’t know how, but he just appears. He’s extraordinary.”

Messi converted a penalty in the first half and scored three more in the second to give Barca their fifth straight victory in the league. Messi had already scored a hat-trick in Barcelona’s 5-0 rout of Espanyol two rounds ago.

It has been a rather unexpectedly good start to the season for Barcelona, who began the league amid turmoil after seeing Neymar leave for Paris Saint-Germain and losing the Spanish Super Cup match to Real Madrid.

It is the best start to the league for Messi, who in 2011-12 had scored eight goals after five matches. He is the league’s leading scorer, with four goals more than Simone Zaza of Valencia, who had a hat-trick in a 5-0 rout of Malaga earlier Tuesday.

It was the fourth time Messi has scored four goals or more with Barcelona.

A STUNNING START Barcelona have made a promising start to the season and it has much to do with Lionel Messi’s superlative form and incoming coach Ernesto Valverde’s tactical play. HT breaks down what has worked for the Catalans so far: