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Lionel Messi netted his first hat-trick of the La Liga season and provided two assists in yet another sensational individual display as a rampant Barcelona won 5-0 at Levante to strengthen their lead at the top of the table on Sunday.
Messi, at his mesmeric best, notched the 31st La Liga hat-trick of his career for Barca while also setting up goals for Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique.
"Suarez and Messi are the best striking partnership in the world. Luis has goals in his veins -- and everything has already been said about Leo," said defender Pique, paying tribute to Barca's prolific South American double act.
Argentine Messi, who on Monday will collect for a record fifth time the Golden Shoe trophy that is awarded annually to the leading marksman in the top divisions of Europe's soccer leagues, looks on a mission to repeat his 2017-18 success.
His treble took him to 14 league goals for the season, two more than any other striker in Europe's 'big five' leagues.
His masterclass began as he carved his way through the home side's defence before producing an outrageous no-look pass for Suarez to open the scoring in the 35th minute, shortly after mid-table Levante had hit the underside of the crossbar.
Messi struck his first goal of the night two minutes before the interval, latching on to a defence-splitting pass from Sergio Busquets and racing clear to knock the ball through the legs of Levante's goalkeeper with his weaker right foot.
The Barca captain, following up his two mesmeric goals from free kicks against Espanyol last week, seemed intent on making further mockery of his recent fifth-place ranking in the Ballon d'Or voting by striking again soon after the interval.
He dispatched Jordi Alba's low cross into the bottom corner with a first-time finish, before going on to complete his treble on the hour mark from close range.
Not yet sated, he then laid on the 88th minute pass for Pique to complete the rout which took leaders Barca on to 34 points after 16 games, three points clear of both second-placed Sevilla and Atletico Madrid, in third.
Levante were the only team to beat Barca in the league last season, stunning them at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium with a 5-4 win in the penultimate game of the campaign.
Perhaps with that game in mind, Barca coach Ernesto Valverde lined up with an unorthodox 3-5-2 formation, playing French forward Ousmane Dembele as a right wing back and Jordi Alba on the left.
Barca took their time to adapt to the formation and nearly fell behind when Emanuel Boateng rattled the bar. All changed though with Messi's dazzling run across the pitch in the build-up to Suarez's opener, and Barca never looked back.
Relief for Di Francesco as Roma fight back to beat Genoa
Beleaguered AS Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco was handed a lifeline as his side twice fought back from behind to beat Genoa 3-2 in Serie A on Sunday.
Italian media had reported that the game was Di Francesco’s last chance to turn things around after a five-matchwinless run in all competitions.
Federico Fazio and Justin Kluivert responded to goals from Serie A top scorer Krzysztof Piatek and Oscar Hiljemark in the first half before Bryan Cristante grabbed the winner amid fan protests at the Stadio Olimpico.
There was an air of tension before kick-off as the home fans booed their own players on to the pitch before an eerie silence fell over the ground as they refused to sing for the opening 10 minutes in protest at club President James Pallotta.
The atmosphere soured further when Robin Olsen allowed Hiljemark’s shot to squirm through his legs for Piatek to tap in after 17 minutes, but Roma drew level through Fazio’s low finish.
Parity lasted two minutes before Hiljemark restored Genoa’s lead, finishing at the back post from Sandro’s nod-on at a corner, but Kluivert showed great pace to sprint through the Genoa defence and fire the hosts level with the last kick of the first half.
Olsen’s blushes were spared when Darko Lazovic’s tame shot again wriggled through the goalkeeper’s grasp, only for a VAR review to disallow the goal for offside in the build-up, before Cristante drilled the winner past Ionut Radu on the hour mark.
The result lifted Roma back into sixth place on 24 points while 16th-placed Genoa have now gone 11 league matches without a victory.
Doubles for Poulsen and Werner as Leipzig thrash Mainz
Yussuf Poulsen and Timo Werner scored twice each as RB Leipzig crushed Mainz 05 4-1 on Sunday to maintain their hold on fourth place in the Bundesliga.
Poulsen completed his double in the space of five minutes early in the first half while Werner added two more late in the second half to keep Leipzig two points ahead of fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1.
Leipzig, whose victory was a big boost for their confidence after their Europa League exit in midweek, are on 28 points.
Borussia Dortmund lead the standings on 39 after notching up their sixth straight win on Saturday, a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen.
Champions Bayern Munich are third on 30, level on points with second-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Monaco slump again at rampant Lyon
AS Monaco lost for the fourth time in five games as a rampant Olympique Lyonnais hammered them 3-0 on Sunday to move into third place in Ligue 1.
The loss left Monaco, runners-up last season and champions in 2017, second bottom of the standings with 13 points from 17 games, five clear of last-placed Guingamp.
They have conceded 45 goals in all competitions this season, the most by any team in Europe’s top five leagues.
Houssem Aouar scored Lyon’s first after six minutes when he finished off a rebound close to goal and Nabil Fekir made it two 11 minutes before halftime.
Aleksandr Golovin made Monaco’s plight even more difficult when he got a straight red for a bad tackle early in the second half and Ferland Mendy compounded the misery for Thierry Henry’s side when made it 3-0 with a header.
Lyon have 31 points after 17 games, three behind Lille, who moved into second earlier in the day with a 3-2 win at Nimes.
Lille’s first league victory in Nimes since 1954 put the northern side on 34 points from 18 games, three above Lyon and five ahead of fourth-placed Montpellier, who have played two fewer games.
Paris St Germain remain runaway leaders with 44 points from their unbeaten 16-game start.
In Nimes, Rafael Leao put the visitors ahead after five minutes, Jonathan Bamba doubled the with his eighth goal of the season, and Nicolas Pepe got a joint league leading 12th goal after 68 minutes to make it 3-0.
Rachid Alioui got one back for the home side and Clement Depres cut the deficit further in stoppage time with a header, but it was not enough.
Lille’s win came in spite of playing most of the game with 10 men after Jose Fonte was sent off for gesturing to an official after 16 minutes.
Ligue 1 has been disrupted over the last two weeks as several games were postponed because of widespread anti-government protests across France.
With many matches still to be rescheduled, some teams have played two games more than others.
