Barca run riot on home turf
Messi, Suarez score a brace each as Catalan giants thump Huesca 82; Betis stun Sevilla
BARCELONA: Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each as La Liga champions Barcelona turned on the style to hammer Huesca 8-2 on Sunday while Real Betis ended a 12-year wait for a home victory over local rivals Sevilla by winning the derby 1-0.
Valencia are still without a win this season after being held to a 2-2 draw at neighbours Levante and Alaves came from behind to beat visiting Espanyol.
Top-flight debutants Huesca took a shock early lead in their first league visit to the Camp Nou when Colombian forward Cucho Hernandez deflected the ball in from point-blank range but Messi soon dampened the celebrations of the visiting supporters by cannoning a shot in off the post to level. An own goal from Jorge Pulido gave Barca the lead and Suarez extended it by scoring for the first time in five games in all competitions after the video assistant referee (VAR) overturned an offside call.
Huesca’s Alex Gallar pulled one back to make it 3-2 but any hope of a revival was soon killed off by three Barca goals in 11 minutes from Ousmane Dembele, Ivan Rakitic and another strike from Messi. Jordi Alba capped a brilliant performance to score the seventh after setting up two of the earlier goals, while Suarez added number eight with a penalty in stoppage time as Messi turned down the chance to complete a hat-trick.
BIGGEST WIN
Barca also put eight goals past Huesca in their last meeting at the Nou Camp in the Copa del Rey in an 8-1 win in 2014, while this was their biggest win in the league since thumping Deportivo 8-0 away in April, 2016.
Joaquin, 37, became the oldest scorer in a Seville top-flight derby when he rose to head home at the near post in the 79th minute, shortly after the visitors had had midfielder Roque Mesa sent off for two bookings. Sevilla nearly scored through Franco Vazquez and Gabriel Mercado but handed their rivals an extra man advantage when Mesa was booked for fouling keeper Pau Lopez, and Joaquin capitalised to the delight of the 60,000 fans at Benito Villamarin stadium.
‘REAL ARE WEAKER WITHOUT RONALDO’
MADRID: Real Madrid are a worse team after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus in the close season, according to Barcelona captain Lionel Messi.
Messi and Ronaldo battled against each other in La Liga for nine years with their respective sides but the Portuguese forward left for Serie A in July.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have won their opening three matches and are joint top of the table on nine points.
“Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world with a great squad (but) it’s evident that the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo makes them less good and makes Juventus (one of the) clear favourites to win the Champions League,” Messi told Catalunya Radio said on Monday. “It surprised me. I didn’t imagine him leaving Madrid or joining Juventus. There were a lot of teams that wanted him. It surprised me but he went to a very good team.” Barcelona 8 Messi 16, 61 Pulido 24-og Suarez 39, 90+3 Dembele 48 Rakatic 52
Alba 81 Levante 2 Marti 13, 33
Real Betis 1 Joaquin 80
Huesca 2 Hernandez 3
Gallar 42 Barcelona Real
Celta Vigo Levante Sevilla
P3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
L0 0 0 1 1 10 9 8 9 3 7 2 4 2 4