La Liga
MESSI SCORES 50TH CAREER HAT-TRICK
Lionel Messi scored his 50th career hat-trick to fire Barcelona to a 4-2 win at Sevilla on Saturday after the champions had twice fallen behind, giving the Catalans a 10-point lead at the top of La Liga.
Sevilla, who have only won once in the league in 2019, took the lead midway through the first half through veteran winger Jesus Navas but were soon pegged back by an unstoppable volley from Messi.
The home side capitalised on sleepy defending from Barca to re-take the lead before halftime as Gabriel Mercado pounced in the area.
Barca coach Ernesto Valverde made two attacking changes at the start of the second period by introducing Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto and got the intended reaction when the France winger laid the ball off to Messi just inside the area and the Argentine lashed it into the top corner.
Messi, who has struggled for form in recent weeks due to a niggling injury, looked on a mission to grab the winner and after twice coming close he completed his treble to put Barca ahead in the 85th minute, reacting quickly to a poor Sevilla clearance to dink the ball over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
Luis Suarez made sure of the points by scoring deep in stoppage time, chipping Vaclik after being played through by a pass from Messi.
Barca lead the standings on 57 points after 25 games while second-placed Atletico Madrid have 47 but can reduce the gap back to seven when they host Villarreal on Sunday.
Sevilla fell to fifth, slipping out of the Champions League places behind Getafe.
MESSI DELIVERS
“Messi is decisive and superlative, every team has decisive players but we have the best in the world,” said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde.
“It’s not just his goals either, but because he always delivers in the right place at the right time.”
Sevilla had endured a humiliating 3-0 loss at struggling Villarreal last week but before the game Valverde warned of the Andalusians outstanding record at their Sanchez Pizjuan, where they had thrashed Real Madrid 3-0 and beaten Barca 2-0 in the Copa del Rey this season.
They took the lead through a lightning quick counter-attack as Wissam Ben Yedder marauded down the pitch and played in Navas, who took one touch to control and the other to slide the ball through the legs of the diving Gerard Pique and beyond the outstretched Marc-Andre ter Stegen into the bottom corner.
Sevilla’s intensity prevented Barca from replicating their usual slick passing game and it took a superb goal from Messi to pull them level, the Argentine swivelling to meet a cross from Ivan Rakitic on the volley, leaving Vaclik with no chance.
Sevilla are Messi’s favourite victims, and last year he came off the bench to score twice in two minutes and rescue a 2-0 draw from 2-0 down.
He went one better this time and has now scored 36 times in 37 games against the Andalusians.
“It’s always tough to win here, we know what it is like to come to this stadium and how good Sevilla’s players are, they made things very hard for us by taking the lead but we knew how to overcome all that,” Messi added.
It was his 44th hat-trick for Barca, with 32 coming in La Liga, eight in the Champions League, three in the Copa del Rey and one in the Spanish Super Cup. He has also struck six trebles for Argentina.
- Reuters
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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