MADRID, Feb 28: Things are going Barcelona’s way again and, thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, scoring is no longer a problem for the Catalan club.
Aubameyang scored his fifth goal in three matches as Barcelona kept momentum with a reassuring 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Ousmane Dembélé, Luuk de Jong and Memphis Depay also scored for Barcelona, which was coming off a big win against Napoli in the Europa League. Xavi Hernández’s team has won three in a row in all competitions – scoring four goals each time – and is back in fourth place in the Spanish league in the final Champions League spot.
The win at Camp Nou moved Barcelona within a point of third-place Real Betis with a game in hand. Its gap to leader Real Madrid is 15 points.
Aubameyang had scored in the 4-2 win against Napoli on Thursday and was coming off a hat trick in the 4-1 win against Valencia in the league last week. The 32-year-old striker was signed from Arsenal in the last minute of the transfer window last month.
He scored from close range in the first half against Athletic and Dembélé added to the lead in the second for his first goal since being reinstated to the squad after refusing to leave in the transfer window.
De Jong sealed the victory with a header in the 90th and Depay closed the scoring in stoppage time for his first goal since November. This was his first appearance after being sidelined for almost a month and a half because of an injury.
The message “No to war” is being shown on the broadcast of all Spanish league matches.
Sevilla beat Real Betis 2-1 in the Seville derby to stay within range of league leader Madrid.
Ivan Rakitic and Munir El Haddadi scored first-half goals before Betis pulled one closer with Sergio Canales in stoppage time at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium.
With four goals from four shots, Yeremy Pino became the first Villarreal player to score four times in a league game. Pino scored a hat trick before halftime and added another goal in the second half of Villarreal’s 5-1 rout of Espanyol at home.
He is the third youngest four-goal scorer in the history of the Spanish league. (AP)
