La Lagia | Messi magic fuels Barca

Juventus beats AC Milan; Inter loses to Sampdoria

Lionel Messi was at the top of his game as Barcelona earned a 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday to move up to third in LaLiga.

Athletic got off to a dream start in its first match under new coach Marcelino when forward Inaki Williams latched on to a low through ball and raced towards goal, beating one defender before firing low into the net in the third minute.

Barca quickly responded, however, with a sensational team goal, Messi delivering a superb pass to pick out Frenkie de Jong by the byline and the Dutchman volleyed the ball back across the area for 18-year-old Pedri to head home.

Messi and Pedri combined beautifully to put Barca ahead, the youngster receiving a pass from the Argentine before returning it with a delightful backheel and Messi rolled the ball into the bottom corner in the 38th minute.

Messi struck again in the 62nd minute to finish off another brilliant team move and missed a couple of chances to complete his hat-trick, although Iker Muniain made for a tense finale by scoring for Athletic in the 90th.

Barca clung on to earn a first win in four matches away to Athletic, having failed to score on its last three trips to San Mames.

Juventus inflicted a first Serie A defeat of the season on league leader AC Milan as a Federico Chiesa double led the Italian champion to an exhilarating 3-1 win at San Siro.

Stefano Pioli’s side remains top of the table on 37 points, one ahead of second-placed Inter Milan, which lost to Sampdoria earlier on Wednesday.

The results: LaLiga: Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 3, Muniain 90) lost to Barcelona 3 (Pedri 14, Messi 38, 62).

Serie A: Cagliari 1 (Joao Pedro 20) lost to Benevento 2 (Sau 41, Tuia 44); Sassuolo 2 (Boga 52, Raspadori 83) bt Genoa 1 (Shomurodov 64); Crotone 1 (Golemic 71) lost to Roma 3 (Mayoral 8, 29, Mkhitaryan 35-pen); Lazio 2 (F. Caicedo 6, Immobile 75) bt Fiorentina 1 (Vlahovic 88-pen); Torino 1 (Bremer 84) drew with Hellas Verona 1 (Dimarco 67); Sampdoria 2 (Candreva 23-pen, Balde 38) bt Inter Milan 1 (de Vrij 65); Bologna 2 (Tomiyasu 19, Svanberg 40) drew with Udinese 2 (Pereyra 34, Arslan 90+2); Atalanta 3 (Muriel 16, Zapata 49, Gosens 61) bt Parma 0; Napoli 1 (Petagna 58) lost to Spezia 2 (Nzola 68-pen, Pobega 81); AC Milan 1 (Calabria 41) lost to Juventus 3 (Chiesa 18, 62, McKennie 76).

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