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FC Barcelona cruised to a 3-1 win over Leganes last night courtesy of a majestic Lionel Messi hattrick. He opened his account with a sumptuous freekick to register his sixth goal from a dead ball situation in this calendar year. Messi doubled Barcelona's lead five minutes later to give his side a 2-0 lead at the break.
Leganes pulled one back through Nabil El Zhar but it was Messi who scored again and made sure that the Catalans continued their winning streak in all competitions. The league leaders have now gone 38 games unbeaten in La Liga and need just one more to achieve the all-time record.
So without wasting further detail, let's analyze this game from Barcelona's point of view and discuss the three things that the winning side did right on the night:
#3 Perfect service to Lionel Messi
It was Messi who stole all the limelight in this win courtesy of three well-taken goals. Keeping his free-kick aside, his other two goals came because of two quality passes.
For the second goal, Coutinho played Messi on by carving out a through ball and taking the entire Leganes defence out of the equation. It was a brilliant pass and was the Brazilian's first assist to Messi since he came to these shores.
For the third goal, Dembele combined with Messi to create an opening which enabled Barcelona to score the all-important third goal. Both Coutinho and Dembele played to Messi's strengths and delivered him the perfect service to score his goals.
#2 Playing a dynamic midfield
Without Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta, many had predicted this Barcelona side to struggle against the tricky Leganes. But Valverde's midfield men proved their critics wrong with a commanding display.
Ivan Rakitic dictated the tempo of the game and played the Busquets role to perfection. Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele dominated the flanks and tried to cut inside whenever the opportunity presented himself. They were quick to press when not in possession and helped Barcelona in transition.
Special credit should go to Andre Gomes who was effective on the night. This has not been the case often for Gomes since joining Barcelona as he has cut a frustrated figure at Camp Nou. But against Leganes, Gomes drove forward with the ball and completed 95% of his passes on the night.
#1 Resting a chunk of first-team players for the midweek tie
FC Barcelona have a 4-1 advantage over AS Roma going into the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday. But it was expected that Ernesto Valverde will give a rest to a number of his senior members for the upcoming big games in the season.
And as predicted, the likes of Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Samuel Umtiti and Jordi Alba were given the day off to keep the spine of the team fresh for the midweek action.
Despite not having four key members, Barcelona steamrolled past Leganes riding on the back of a Lionel Messi hattrick. It reflected the solid bench strength that Barcelona possess which resulted in a routine victory for the Catalans.
The league leaders got the three points, maintained their lead at the top of the pile, continued their unbeaten run and also achieved squad rotation to keep the players fresh for their European ambitions.
