First Division - Day 27

Zaragoza 2 - Barcelona 4

Zaragoza: Roberto; Diogo, Contini, Jarosik, Ponzio; Gabi, Edmilson (Lafita 46'); Eliseu, Ander Herrera, Arizmendi (Adrián Colunga 61'); Suazo (Pennant 79'). 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Dani Alves, Piqué (Puyol 68'), Milito (Márquez 76'), Maxwell; Busquets, Touré Yaya (Iniesta 62'), Keita; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Pedro. 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 05. Messi. Guided header wide of Roberto from Pedro's chipped cross.
0-2. 66. Messi. Won ball off Ander and ran past three defenders to score.
0-3. 78. Messi. Picked up Iniesta pass and curled shot wide of keeper.
1-3. 85. Colunga. Ran on to long Contini clearance to shoot wide of Valdés.
2-3. 89. Colunga. Got ahead of marker to score following quick Gabi free kick.
2-4. 91. Ibrahimovic (penalty). After Contini pulled down Messi inside area.

Yellow cards: Touré Yaya 38', Jarosik 42', Diogo 73', Maxwell 75', Dani Alves 83', Contini 90'.

Another brilliant performance by Lionel Messi kept Barcelona level with Real Madrid at the top of the table. The Argentinian forward scored his second hat-trick in a week to help his side to a 2-4 victory over Zaragoza at the Romareda stadium in the last match on Sunday evening. Messi opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a well-placed header from Pedro's cross, and netted his second midway through the second half after winning the ball off Ander in midfield and leaving Jarosik and Contini for dead before beating Roberto with an angled shot. A third came ten minutes later and the game appeared to be in the bag, but substitute Adrian Colunga caught out a sleepy defence twice in the last five minutes to put the locals back in the game. Messi produced another moment of magic though to win an injury time penalty off Contini, handing the ball to Ibrahimovic for him to score at last after several misses throughout the game.