Lionel Messi, Neymar help Barca to comfortable win

Posted on January 9, 2015January 9, 2015
by Nana Kwesi Coomson
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Lionel Messi and Neymar returned as Barcelona ended a turbulent few days with a 5-0 thrashing of Elche in the Copa del Rey.

The pair were rested for Sunday’s loss at David Moyes’s Real Sociedad , and it was Neymar who opened the scoring after being set up by Luis Suarez.

Suarez’s low shot and a Lionel Messi penalty ensured a 3-0 interval lead.

And Jordi Alba’s composed finish and a fierce Neymar drive confirmed the win in the first leg of the last 16 tie.

Barcelona will meet either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals, unless Elche produce something incredible in next Thursday’s second leg.

Victory may ease the pressure on coach Luis Enrique after reports he had fallen out with Messi and that his job was at risk after sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta was sacked.

– BBC

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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