3 things learned as Barcelona thump Mallorca in La Liga return

Lionel Messi continues to do Lionel Messi things

The break didn’t seem to hamper Lionel Messi at all as the best player in the world had a decent game by his standrds.

Not only did he score Barcelona’s fourth goal but he provided the assist for both Braithwaite’s and Alba’s goals.

The Argentine was the best player on the pitch and was awarded the Man of the Match award.

His goal have him 20 for the season as he put more distance between him and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema for the Pichichi award.

Sporting a new haircut, Messi did what he usually does. He took a while to get into the game but once he did, he took over. He conserved his energy but was still able to do some of his patented sprints before being crowded out by defenders.

He dropped deep a couple of times as he became another outlet for the defense when it came to playing out the back.

Despite being the focal point once again, the scoring was distributed as there were three other players whose name ended up on the score sheet. What this means is that even though Barcelona are still reliant on Messi, at least for this match they were able to put away some of the chances he created.

In addition, they were able to keep a clean sheet on the road which they had not done since November of last year against Atletico Madrid.

As mentioned, they get a few days off before they’re back at it against relegation-side Leganes at home.