Barcelona successfully maintained the momentum of victory and took home three important points when they visited Estadio Benito Villamarin. In the headquarters of Real Betis, Barca played the continuation of the 28th week of La Liga match on Monday (18/3).
Dominating the match from the start, Messi and the team managed to win with a pretty convincing score, 4-1. The four goals of Ernesto Valverde’s squad were scored by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi’s hat-trick in the 14th, 45th and 85th minutes. The hosts’ goal through Loren Moron in the 82nd minute become meaningless.
The match seemed to be something that Messi would never forget. Besides being the key to the team’s victory, the three goals he scored against Pau Lopez’s goalpost were also carried out in three different ways. The brilliant action certainly caught the eye. Even the loyal supporters of Betis also gave their appreciation by doing a standing ovation.
Responding to the victory that Barca got and the three goals he scored, Messi finally spoke out. He did not forget to praise the tactics of coach Ernesto Valverde who he considered perfect. “Betis are a team that can have a good ball possesion. However, we don’t suffer. We are very organized,” Messi said. “Valverde reads the situation well and prepares this fight plan well. Tactically this is perfect.”
On the other hand, Valverde also praised Messi’s performance. “Messi was impressive. He scored three goals and had the chance to score a fourth,” Valverde said. “This shows how important Messi is, even though the opposing team provides resistance, we enjoy this era that is unequaled,” he added.
Moreover, the 31-year-old player also thanked for the appreciation given by the public Benito Villamarin.
“Standing ovation from Real Betis supporters? I am very happy and grateful to be able to get it. I have never experienced anything like this before. They (the Betis supporters) always treat Barcelona very well. Despite the fact that we are rivals,” Messi said as reported by the Mirror.
In addition to getting a standing ovation from Betis supporters, this match became even more special for Messi, because the three goals he scored made the Argentine player now collect 51 hat-tricks during his Blaugrana uniform.
The victory over Betis was clearly an important thing for Ernesto Valverde’s squad. In addition to increasingly cementing themselves at the top of La Liga standings, they also successfully avenged a 4-3 defeat at the first meeting that took place at Camp Nou in November 2018 ago.
-RDS-
