Messi fires Barca to first win in over 1 month

Lionel Messi scored twice as FC Barcelona returned to winning ways in La Liga for the first time since November 6 with an emphatic 3-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday at the Estadio El Sadar, Pamplona, Irunea.

After draws against Malaga, Real Sociedad and Real Madrid in the Primera Division, Luis Enrique’s side were in need of a strong performance on Saturday but also a positive result.

Osasuna, however, are bottom of La Liga now and seriously struggling. So unsurprisingly, this match was fairly one-sided from the outset. And Barca, with Neymar suspended, should have been ahead early on as Luis Suarez missed good chances, firing wide following a marvellous Messi pass and then hitting the post.

There were also opportunities for Messi, Iniesta and Samuel Umtiti and as half time arrived, Barca would have wondered how they were not ahead. After three straight draws in La Liga, again it looked like things may go against them.

But Messi had other ideas and the gulf in quality between these two teams told in the end. The Argentine popped up all over the pitch, drifting inside and dropping deep into midfield – and it was from that position where he initiated a decisive move after 59 minutes, cutting the Osasuna defence open with a pass to Jordi Alba who in turn squared for Suarez to make it 1-0.

It was fairly simple stuff but extremely effective, and Alba was involved again as Messi made it two, the left-back cutting back from the byline and taking extra responsibility in attack in the absence of Neymar.

And Messi put the cherry on top with a stunning strike in added time as defenders fell over themselves to try and stop him. As usual, they were unable to do so and the Argentine fired home with aplomb to make it 17 goals in his last nine league appearances against Osasuna.