After Barcelona's 7-0 thrashing of Valencia in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey semi-finals, the Catalan's superstar, Lionel Messi, refused to take the match ball insisting that strike-partner, Luis Suarez, receive it instead for the four goals that he scored.
Shortly after the match was completed, Barcelona's official Twitter handle tweeted a vine of the Argentine and the Uruguayan walking off the pitch with a football each yet later on, in the tunnels, Messi would go on to acknowledge the former Liverpool man's prowess in front of goal.
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According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona official Carles Naval “approached Messi to deliver the ball, but the Argentine refused to accept it and told him to give it to Suarez”.
Mundo Deportivo continue to describe the handing over of the ball as a 'great gesture' by the diminutive striker. Messi scored another hat-trick last night – against Gary Neville's men – before Suarez went on to score four.
Lionel Messi also reached the rare achievement of scoring 500 career goals with his hat-trick – an achievement matched by only a handful of people.
Valencia demolished by MSN; Gary Neville refuses to step down as manager
Three fantastic goals from Lionel Messi and four from Luis Suarez ensured Gary Neville's already-disappointing stint as the manager at the Mestalla got even worse. The Englishman's team are still winless in La Liga not gaining three points in any of their last eight matches – a run of games that stretches up to the day Neville took over as manager.
The former Sky Sports pundit has won four games – all in the Copa del Rey but insisted that he was not going to step down as the manager. Not just yet.
