Football: Messi’s brace inspires Barcelona win

MADRID: Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 win over Racing Santander in La Liga. Messi’s Argentina teammate Gonzalo Higuain had earlier scored his second hat-trick in a week to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 mauling of Real Betis. At Camp Nou, Messi’s brace, which took his league total to 10 this season, and a rare header for captain Xavi Hernandez were enough to seal the points. In other results, Espanyol defeated Rayo Vallecano 1-0 away from home yesterday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2011.