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Barcelona defender Sergino Dest turned on the style for the Catalan giants on Sunday against Real Sociedad in La Liga.
The 20-year-old once again took up his usual position on the right flank and produced a sublime piece of skill in the first half to evade two Real Sociedad defenders.
Dest’s evening got even better two minutes before half-time when the USMNT star notched his first La Liga goal for the club. Captain Lionel Messi teed up the defender to fire a shot past goalkeeper Alex Remiro.
Barcelona’s third also came courtesy of Dest at the start of the second half. Jordi Alba did well to get into the penalty area and fire a ball across goal for the young American to net his second of the match.
Dest now has three for the season in what is his debut campaign with the Catalan giants following his summer move from Ajax. The 20-year-old opened his account in a 4-1 Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev in November.
Dest’s goals also mean he becomes the 18th different player to find the back of the net for Barcelona in 2020-21, more than any other club in Europe’s top five leagues, according to Opta.
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Griezmann Puts Barcelona Ahead
Dest’s opening goal made it 2-0 to Barcelona after Antoine Griezmann had opened the scoring for the visitors after 37 minutes at Anoeta. The Frenchman notched from close range against his former club after Ousmane Dembele’s effort had been parried by the goalkeeper.
Griezmann ended a run of nine games without a goal by scoring in the 4-1 win over Huesca last time out and has now scored in consecutive league games for just the third time in his career at the Camp Nou.
The goal is the perfect present for the World Cup winner who was named in the starting line-up on his 30th birthday. Griezmann shares his birthday with team-mate Alba and coach Ronald Koeman.
Messi Beats Xavi’s Record
Sunday’s match also saw Messi add yet another record to his bulging collection. The captain made his 768th outing for the Catalan giants, overtaking Xavi to become the player with the most appearances for Barcelona in the history of the club.
The captain’s assist for Dest takes him to 10 in all competitions for the Catalan giants, and the Argentine also went on to add a brace of his own as the visitors ran out impressive 6-1 winners.
Sergio Busquets picked out Messi for his first of the night as he ran out into the penalty area and nudged the ball past Remiro to make it 4-0. Ousmane Dembele added Barca’s fifth before Messi wrapped up the scoring in the closing minutes to make it 6-1.
The Barcelona captain now has 23 for the season in La Liga, keeping him top of the scoring charts in Spain’s top flight and now four clear of his nearest challenger Luis Suarez in the race for the Pichichi.
Messi’s performance also continues the red-hot form he has shown since the turn of the year. The 33-year-old now has an incredible 16 goals and 7 assists in just 12 La Liga games in 2021.
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