Messi leaves Piqué speechless

Barça defender Gerard Piqué spoke to the media after Barça's 5-1 win over Espanyol, and had special praise for Leo Messi, whose hat trick put him over the 400 goal mark for Barça: "There are no words to describe what Messi gives us."

Piqué scored Barça's third goal on a corner but admitted that they have difficulty scoring on set plays: "We aren't very tall. And it is true that we have been able to score from close in, like the other day against Valencia, but today we were better," he said. He also highlighted the team's play in the second half: "In the second half we were more organised and they had fewer counter attacks."

Declarations from other players:

Jordi Alba

"It was tough to penetrate in the first half because Espanyol defended very well, but we were much better in the second half. We could have scored more than five."

“I'm really happy with the way this season is going both for the team and for me personally."

Ivan Rakitic

“Messi's goal was really big, but even bigger was that we didn't let Espanyol breathe, we kept pushing for the goal."

“Barça's set plays are a little different, but we already scored like that at Valencia. We are continually trying to improve our play in that area."

Barça will train tomorrow at 11.00 AM CET at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.