A superb night all-round for Barcelona on Sunday saw Sergino Dest grab the headlines, en route to a resounding victory over Real Sociedad.
Firing on all cylinders
Ronald Koeman’s men made the trip to the Anoeta a short time ago, for a La Liga showdown.
The clash marked a crucial one for the Blaugrana, in their efforts to keep pace with Atletico Madrid atop the Spanish top-flight table.
Atleti’s hard-fought victory over Alaves earlier today meant that nothing but a 3-point haul would suffice for Koeman and co., after Diego Simeone’s men extended their advantage to a full 7 points.
When all was said and done, though, Barca got the job done, and in some style.
An explosive 20-minute spell either side of the interval saw all of Antoine Griezmann, Sergino Dest (2) and Lionel Messi find the target, as the on-song Blaugrana ruthlessly tore apart a shell-shocked Sociedad.
Lionel Messi gets a goal of his own and Barca are on fire! 🔥
Fantastic pass over the top by Busquets, great run by Messi, and there was never any doubt about the finish 🙌 pic.twitter.com/so9QTM2wTD
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) March 21, 2021
Ousmane Dembele then got in on the act 20 minutes from time, before Ander Barrenetxea appeared to have restored at least some semblance of respectability to the scoreline with a superb finish late on.
Just when it looked as though the evening’s scoring was complete, though, Lionel Messi added the visitors’ 6th, guiding Barca back into 2nd in the La Liga table with a bang.
Dazzling Dest
In turn, on the back of the action coming to a close at Anoeta Stadium, a number of the Blaugrana’s stars have since been singled out for praise.
Messi continued to pull the strings in typically stylish fashion throughout the clash, adding his latest trio of goal contributions to an ever-bloating La Liga tally in 2020/21.
Ousmane Dembele, meanwhile, is beginning to look close to his scintillating best once again, whilst Sergio Busquets appears almost a different player since the turn of the year.
Without doubt the star of the show for the Catalans, en route to their latest 3-point haul, though, was Sergino Dest.
The United States international surged forward from his right-back berth with purpose and vigour at each and every opportunity versus Sociedad, chipping in with not only his first goal in Blaugrana colours, but then his 2nd ten minutes later, too:
Sergiño Dest with a cool finish for his first goal for Barcelona! 🙌
An excellent first half for the visitors 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hIlCPXVrks
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) March 21, 2021
And, in turn, the gifted stopper has since pushed Barcelona to the summit of an impressive top-5 league chart, as the only side across Europe’s major divisions to have seen 18 different players find the net in league action this season:
18 – Sergiño Dest 🇺🇸 is the 18th player to score for @FCBarcelona in @LaLigaEN this season, the most different scorers for a team in the top five European leagues in 2020/21. Wealth. pic.twitter.com/nm9nQvFxqG
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 21, 2021
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