European football: Lionel Messi bags brace in first 16 minutes of season

By MASSIMO MARZOCCHI
Published on 20/08/2012 02:54

BARCELONA laid down an early title warning to defending La Liga champions Real Madrid last night as Lionel Messi hit a double within the opening 16 minutes of last night’s season-opening 5-1 win at home to Real Sociedad.

To add to the feelgood factor inside the Nou Camp, David Villa, who missed the bulk of last season as well as Euro 2012 with a broken leg, made his first appearance of 2012, scoring the Catalans’ final goal of the evening within minutes of stepping off the substitutes’ bench.

Carles Puyol, who also missed Spain’s European Championship success in Poland and Ukraine, opened the scoring after just four minutes before the visitors levelled five minutes later.

But the irrepressible Messi put Barca in command when he struck in 11 minutes before adding his second of the night just five minutes later. Pedro made it 4-1 just before the break and Villa sealed the win late on. Barca had received a pre-match boost after Madrid stumbled to a 1-1 draw at home against Valencia in the opening match of their title defence.

Jose Mourinho’s men appeared set to pick up where they had left off last season when Gonzalo Higuain scored in the 10th minute, but Jonas leveled for Valencia in the 42nd to give coach Mauricio Pellegrino a hard-earned draw on his debut. Cristiano Ronaldo, who set a club record with 46 league goals last season, was uncharacteristically subdued and failed to manage a shot on goal. “We knew it was going to be tough because Valencia has played well here before,” said Madrid defender Raul Albiol, who formerly played for Valencia. “We have to stay positive and look forward.”

Real Betis defeated Athletic Bilbao in a 5-3 shootout at San Mames stadium after the Basques had fought back from a three-goal deficit to draw level. On Saturday, 16-year-old Fabrice Olinga became the youngest player to score in the Spanish league, giving Malaga a 1-0 win at promoted Celta Vigo. Tomer Hemed scored twice as Mallorca beat Espanyol 2-1, and Sevilla downed Getafe 2-1.

Elsewhere, regionalliga side Havelse sprung a major surprise by knocking Bundesliga side Nurnberg out of the DFB-Pokal 3-2 after extra time, while Hamburg and Werder Bremen also exited the German Cup tournament to lower league opposition – tumbling out to Karlsruhe and Preussen Munster respectively. Despite Alexander Esswein’s early opener, Nurnberg required Robert Mak’s 80th-minute equaliser to see them into extra time. But Marc Vucinovic struck early in the second extra period to add to Christoph Beismann and Patrick Posipal’s goals in normal time and see the Pelikans through.

Hamburg twice squandered the lead as they were dumped out 4-2 by 
3.Bundesliga side Karlsruhe. First-half goals from Marcus Berg and Maximilian Beister gave the visitors the upper hand but Koen van der Biezen and Selcuk Alibaz scored equalisers. And the third-tier outfit stunned their illustrious opponents with two goals in the final 12 minutes from Martin Stoll and Elia Soriano to secure their spot in the second round. Werder Bremen were another side to crash out after extra time to Preussen Munster, from the same level of the game, after Matthew Taylor’s hat-trick. The American equalised twice to ensure extra time after first Eljero Elia and then Niclas Fullkrug had given Werder the lead. And Dima Nazarov put the hosts 3-2 ahead before Werder had Sokratis Papastathopoulos sent off and Taylor grabbed his third late on.

Eintracht Frankfurt had Kevin Trapp sent off inside 20 minutes as they were hammered 3-0 by second-tier Erzgebirge Aue. Thomas Paulus scored from the resulting penalty and Jakub Sylvestr’s double ensured there was no way back for the Bundesliga side, despite the dismissal of Aue’s Oliver Schroder at 2-0. Regionalliga side Wormatia Worms beat Hertha Berlin of the 2.Bundesliga 2-1. Tim Bauer set the minnows on their way with a third-minute penalty and, despite Sandro Wagner’s equaliser, Romas Dressler’s winner sent the Worms into the next round.

Sergio Pinto and Jan Schlaudraff scored twice apiece as Hannover cruised past Nottingen 6-1 and Julian Draxler and Ciprian Marica did likewise in Schalke’s 5-0 win over Saarbrucken, while 1860 Munich enjoyed a 6-0 success against Hennef with six different goalscorers. Aalen beat 2.Bundesliga rivals Ingolstadt 3-0 and Paderborn were beaten 3-1 by third-division Arminia Bielefeld after late goals from Patrick Schonfeld and Thomas Hubener.