Messi leads Barca to thumping Alaves win

Lionel Messi

Barcelona might not be able to catch Atletico Madrid but they may fancy their chances against Paris Saint-Germain after Lionel Messi scored twice in a 5-1 thrashing of Alaves on Saturday.

Messi fired in two sensational long-range efforts and would have had a hat-trick at Camp Nou had a dubious VAR decision in the first half not ruled Antoine Griezmann offside. He did tee up a second of the night for Francisco Trincao, 21, and was instrumental in Junior Firpo adding a fifth too, a flamboyant scoop freeing Griezmann to send a pass to Firpo at the back post.

"Leo is focused, he's happy, he's ruthless," said Ronald Koeman.

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