Leo Messi: The Hat-Trick Scoring UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Seems Leo Messi can do no wrong. On Friday he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, a role that will involve speaking out on behalf of impoverished children. That alone deserves a pat on the back.

Then yesterday Messi scored a hat-trick for Barcelona as they beat third-place Valencia 3-0. An (almost?) holy trinity of threes there. I desperately tried to find an image of little Lionel (as I like to call him) with a halo to go with this post, but was amazed that such an image does not exist. Someone please Photoshop one up, because he’s scheduled to rescue a tree-stranded kitten any day now.

Highlights of Messi’s hat-trick for an Ibrahimovic-less Barcelona are below:

I can’t think of any player in the world that defenders would less like to see dribbling towards them from the left hand side of their penalty area.

If you do enjoy seeing Argentine’s score La Liga hat-tricks though, March 14th was your lucky day. Gonzalo Higuain also notched a treble as Real Madrid won 4-1 away to Real Valladolid.

Maybe not as aesthetically pleasing as Messi’s, but a hat-trick is a hat-trick and the 4-1 win keeps Real Madrid level with Barcelona on 65 points. Also, interesting factoid I learned (or possibly re-learned, it’s been a rough few months) recently:

Though Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (which is what you might call La Liga if you’re feeling as nerdy and pedantic as I am right now) uses head to head results as first tie-breaker, and Barcelona beat Real Madrid 1-0 at Camp Nou back in November, head to head isn’t actually used until teams have played each other home and away. So Real stay top for now with their +50 goal difference, which is two beter than Barcelona’s +48, no matter how eye-popping Messi’s goals were.

The date to put a big blaugrana vs blancos coloure circle on your calendar is Sunday, April 11th. Real Madrid vs Barcelona at the Bernabéu, where the Spanish title could very well be decided. Maybe not literally, but as good as.

- For more on the La Liga behemoths visit Real Madrid Offside and Barcelona Offside

Some Related Stories:

• Leo Messi + Dani Alves = Futbol.
• Messi’s Hat Trick Wins Barcelona the Spanish Super Cup
• La Liga’s 2010-11 Fixtures, Schedule, Days To Watch Messi, Etc.
• Lionel Messi’s Hat-trick Double
• The Great Lionel Messi Cover Act

Category: Spain La Liga

Tags: Barcelona, Gonzalo Higuain, Leo Messi, Real Madrid, Spain La Liga, Valenica

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