Lionel Messi scored a brace as Barcelona on Thursday thrashed Leganes 5-0 at Camp Nou to advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey. The other scorers of the night were Antoine Griezmann, Clement Lenglet and Arthur Melo.
The victory was much-needed for the new coach Quique Setien who has been under some pressure ever since his hiring. “We did a lot of things well but I am not completely happy because we also lost control of the game in the latter stages of the first half,” said Setien as quoted by PTI via AFP.
Earlier a defeat at the hands of Valencia, in Setien’s third match as the manager, had allowed Real Madrid to replace Barcelona at the top of the points table in La Liga.
But on Thursday, much to the likes of what was expected, Barcelona were high on confidence and opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the game. Nelson Semedo provided the delivery for Griezmann before the Frenchman poked home his 13th goal of the season.
The Catalan giants were 2-0 up 23 minutes later after Lenglet headed in a corner off Messi. The next three goals came in the second half and two of them were scored by Messi.
The Argentine superstar netted the first goal of the second half in the 59th minute before completing his brace in the last minute of the regulation time. Meanwhile, Arthur had extended the home team’s lead 13 minutes before stoppage time was added.
Setien will be hoping to continue the winning run as the Blaugrana’s next fixtures are Levante, Getafe and Eibar, all at home, as well as a trip to Real Betis.