Lionel Messi Stars as Rampant Barcelona thrash Athletic Bilbao

A magical Lionel Messi produced another devastating attacking show as Barcelona thumped Athletic Bilbao 5-2 in La Liga on Sunday to move within a point of the leaders, Real Madrid. The Catalan side took full advantage of Real’s 4-0 derby defeat by the champions, Atlético Madrid, on Saturday with a victory that moved them up to 53 points. Atlético are three points adrift of Barcelona.

Barça took the lead from a Messi free-kick that deflected off the wall and wrong-footed the goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, after 15 minutes. The Argentinian then took on the role of provider. First he played in Luis Suárez, who fired home from 20 yards, a goal that took the pressure off the Uruguayan, who had not scored in six games and earlier had a header saved from point-blank range by Iraizoz.

Mikel Rico pulled a goal back for the hosts in the 59th minute but their celebrations had barely died down when Oscar De Marcos put the ball into his own net from a Messi cross. Messi continued at the heart of Barcelona’s play and set up Neymar for a clinical finish after 65 minutes. Athletic, to their credit, kept attacking and Aritz Aduriz made it 4-2 but then they had Xabier Etxeita dismissed for a high tackle on Suarez.

The substitute Pedro still had time for Barça’s fifth, scoring from close range with Messi again playing a part in the build-up. Earlier Valencia’s Pablo Piatti set them on the way to a 2-1 victory at Espanyol as they moved up to fourth by leapfrogging Sevilla, who slumped to a 2-1 defeat away to Getafe [The Guardian].