Lionel Messi helped Barcelona come from behind to record a brace on wednesday night and comfortably beat Espanyol 4-1 at home,in the first(1st) leg of the ‘Copa de Rey’ match of the last sixteen(16).
Espanyol’s Caicedo put the visitors ahead in the 9th minute, but Messi quickly equalized four(4) minutes later before putting the catalans ahead in the 44th minute through a free-kick.
The Argentine international further set up Pique in the 49th minute goal,and an inter-change of passes found Neymar who hit a volley in the 88th minute to finish off a 9-men Espanyol side that had two(2) players Perez and Diop sent off in the last eighteen(18) minutes.
Messi is a strong candidate for next monday’s Ballon d’Or award,and has so far scored 14 goals in an injury prone 21 games.
In England,Everton took a 2-1 advantage in the ‘Capitol One Cup’ Semi-Final(1st leg) beating Manchester City 2-1 at Goodson Park,as two(2) disallowed goals followed up a Ramiro Funes Mori’s 45+1′ minute goal,and Jesus Navas’ 76th minute equalizer was shot-lived as Romelu Lukaku headed home a winner two(2) minutes later in the 78th minute.
Romelu Lukaku has now scored 12 goals in 12 appearances for Everton,in all competitions.
WEDNESDAY SELECTED RESULTS;
January 6th,2016!
ENGLAND — CAPITOL ONE CUP:
22:00 Everton 2-1 Manchester City.
(Mori 45+1′,Lukaku 78’| Navas 76′ ).
SPAIN — COPA DE REY(selected):
13:00 Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Villarreal.
17:00 Valencia 4-0 Granada.
19:15 Betis 0-2 Sevilla.
21:30 Barcelona 4-1 Espanyol.
(Messi 13′,44′,Pique 49′,Neymar 88’| Caicedo 9′).
23:05 Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Atletico Madrid.
ITALY — SERIE A(selected):
16:00 AC Milan 0-1 Bologna.
16:00 Chievo 3-3 AS Roma.
16:00 Juventus 3-0 Verona.
16:00 Lazio 0-0 Carpi.
16:00 Palermo 1-3 Fiorentina.
19:00 Empoli 0-1 Inter Milan.
21:45 Napoli 2-1 Torino.
PORTUGAL — PRIMEIRA LIGA(selected):
21:00 Benfica 6-0 Maritimo.
22:15 FC Porto 1-1 Rio Ave.
22:15 Setubal 0-6 Sporting Lisbon.
INT’NAL FRIENDLIES(CHAN PREPS):
15:00 Nigeria 1-1 Angola.
15:30 Rwanda 1-1 Cameroon.
Lionel Messi (Picture: AP)
Chama Epaphras Michael Neymar
messi the best second Neymar and Suarez.