Busquets’ idea was to obscure Oblak’s view and when you watch the free-kick from the other angle you can see the goalkeeper straining his neck to get a better view of Messi.
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Lionel Messi drilled the upper right corner of the net on a free kick in Barcelona’s 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid Sunday at Camp Nou in Barcelona. Enter the man himself, who dragged Argentina out of a bumbling stupor to single-handedly tear Ecuador apart with a sensational hat-trick.
While the draw maintains Barcelona’s unbeaten record in the league this season, their lead is now down to five points ahead of Sunday’s clash with nearest rivals Atletico at Camp Nou.
‘After they lost Neymar they have moved from a 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. The Argentine is having a truly astonishing league campaign this season; he has been involved in 35 goals (23 goals, 12 assists) in La Liga this season, accounting for half of all of Barcelona’s league goals so far.
He opened the scoring from inside the area after a long low pass by Koke in the 26th, then added to the lead less than 10 minutes later with a well-struck free kick.
Costa did find substitute Kevin Gameiro late on, but the Frenchman’s effort was ruled out for offside.
Atletico Madrid’s encounter with Barcelona represents their only chance to reel in the La Liga leaders, according to former Barca midfielder Gaizka Mendieta.
The Argentina global has been the top goalscorer in La Liga since 2015, too, when he surpassed the 59-year record of 251 league goals held by Telmo Zarra with a hat-trick against Sevilla.
But as the first half was drawing to a close, referee Mateu Lahoz emerged as a protagonist, declining to penalise Las Palmas keeper Leandro Chichizola when he touched the ball with his hand outside the 18-yard box. “When we lose, I don’t like to complain but we’ve won today, so I’m going to take advantage of the fact (to voice an opinion)”.
Valencia was held to a 1-1 draw by Athletic Bilbao, missing a chance to overtake Real Madrid for third place.
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Levante sacked coach Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz after the game following a run of 15 league games without a win which has left them one point above the relegation zone in 17th. Barca went into the half with the 1-0 edge and would not give up a goal for the remainder of the La Liga affair.
