Thierry Henry Gets a Hat-Trick in Barcelona Win Against Levante
Even if Levante is at the bottom of the Spanish Primera Liga, Barcelona have a difficult time when they play at the home pitch of Levante at the Ciudad de Valencia. The Levante fans can be quite hostile and the pitch is quite thin. However, Barcelona didn’t seem to have any problems as they stunned Levante to a 4-1 thrashing with Thierry Henry scoring a hat-trick in his first goals of the Spanish Primera Liga campaign.
It only took 16 minutes in the match for Thierry Henry to score his first La Liga goal for Barcelona. A scramble from a corner kick found Lionel Messi firing straight to Levante keeper Marco Storari who deflected it straight to Thierry Henry, who tapped it into the unguarded net of Levante.
Lionel Messi looked to score the second goal of the match for Barcelona, but was flagged offisde after he broke away from the Levante defense, therefore nullifying the goal. Instead, the second goal for Barcelona came in the 24th minute courtesy of Thierry Henry who was able to time his rush past the Levante defense to chase down a thru-ball by Lionel Messi. Thierry Henry calmly side-footed the ball past Levante’s defenseless keeper Marco Storari to mark his 2nd goal of the match and 2nd in the 2007-08 La Liga Season.
4 minutes after the start of the second half, it was Thierry Henry again who was able to break away clear of the Levante defense and defeat Storari on a one-on-one to score his hat-trick. 2 minutes after Thierry Henry’s hat-trick, Lionel Messi was able to dribble past the Levante defenders and slot it past the Levante keeper in an amazing show of scoring ability.
Levante were awarded a penalty on the 73rd minute when Bareclona defender Carles Puyol fouled Levante’s Alexandre Geijo in the box to bring up Emilio Viquiera to take the spot kick. Viqueira had no problems converting the spot kick to give Levante a consolation goal.
The Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry combination for Barca was impressive, and they could’ve brought even more goals to the match. But certainly, Barcelona fans cannot complain about the 4-1 result, and of course Thierry Henry’s hat-trick performance.
Barcelona look to continue with this impressive performance when they visit Germany for a UEFA Champions League group stage match against last season’s Bundesliga Champions VfB Stuttgart on October 2, 2007. However, Barcelona will be without key defender Yaya Toure who was injured late in the match against Getafe, and had to limp off the field.
Barcelona’s next Spanish Primera Liga match will be on Sunday October 7 when Barca host Atletico Madrid at the Nuo Camp.
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