Messi hat-trick against ajax makes a 4-0 victory

Gerard Pique added a third when he headed
Neymar’s cross past the stranded Kenneth
Vermeer before Messi rounded off the scoring
15 minutes from time.
“In the first-half we found it a bit difficult
because they played well, but in the second we
moved the ball much better and controlled the
game,” Messi told Canal Plus.
“In general I think we played a very good
game. The more variety we have the better.
There are games where we need to manage the
ball, control the game, and others which are
more difficult where we will need to do a bit
more.”
Messi also took time to lend his support to
coach Gerardo Martino, who will fly back to
Argentina after the game to attend his father’s
funeral.
“It was a special game. It is a shame what has
happened and he is suffering, but we are all
with him in this moment.”
Despite causing little threat of their own, Ajax
had managed to limit Barca fairly well in the
opening 20 minutes with a Neymar shot that
was easily held by Vermeer the hosts’ only
attempt on goal.
However, their good work was undone when
Lerin Duarte unnecessarily dived in on Messi
on the edge of the area and the Argentine
picked himself up to fire the resulting free-kick
in off the inside of the post.
Ajax then did manage to carve out a decent
opening when Bojan Krkic — who was allowed
to feature despite being on-loan from Barca —
found Ricardo Van Rhijn with a low cross in
behind Adriano, and his diving header forced
Victor Valdes into a smart stop low to his
right.
Valdes was called into action again six minutes
later to keep out Duarte’s effort from the edge
of the box.
However, Barca could also have extended their
advantage before the interval as Messi
uncharacteristically lacked precision in his
finish when faced with just Vermeer to beat in
first-half stoppage time, the goalkeeper making
a comfortable save.
Van Rhijn made a vital intervention at the start
of the second-half to prevent Neymar slotting
home at the back post.
But it was only a matter of time before the
Ajax goal was breached again, and
unsurprisingly it was Messi as he received
Sergio Busquets’s pass, cut inside and slotted
past the helpless Vermeer.
The Argentine nearly had his hat-trick in
bizarre circumstances seconds later as he
prodded the ball towards goal with his knee
from Neymar’s cross, only for it to dribble
inches wide.
Barca were in cruise control by this stage and
they did eventually get their third of the
evening when Vermeer got nowhere near
Neymar’s in-swinging cross and Pique had the
simple task of heading into an unguarded net.
Messi then sealed his hat-trick with another
unerring finish that arrowed into Vermeer’s
bottom left-hand corner from the edge of the
area.
And the visitors were even denied a
consolation when Valdes saved Kolbeinn
Sigthorsson’s penalty 13 minutes from time
after Javier Mascherano had upended Thurani
Serero.

BARCELONA (AFP) – Lionel Messi moved into
second place on the all-time list of Champions
League goalscorers with his 27th career hat-
trick as Barcelona beat Ajax 4-0 at the Nou
Camp on Wednesday.
The four-time World Player of the Year now
has 62 Champions League goals to his name as
Barca cruised to victory in the first ever
competitive meeting between the two sides.
Messi opened the scoring on 22 minutes with a
sensational free-kick and made the game safe
10 minutes after half-time with a typically cool
left-footed finish.