Barcelona captain/ Argentine
maestro Lionel Messi is the first player to score 400 goals in La Liga, with
his goal in Barcelona's 3-0 victory over Eibar at Camp Nou on Sunday. This is a
boost to his amazing La Liga record as he has been the Spanish League's
all-time top-scorer since November 2014. Messi has an average of 0.92 goals per
game in La Liga. The mercurial magician is the second player to have scored 400
goals in any of Europe's top five leagues, Cristiano Ronaldo is the first.
Messi has however reached this milestone in 63 games less than Ronaldo did.
Of Messi's
400 La Liga strikes, 83 have been braces, and 31, braces. La Liga's second
top-scorer is Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 89 goals less than Messi. Messi
scored his first goal in 2005, aged 17, against Albacete. His strike was
assisted by Brazil legend Ronaldinho, who scored 70 La Liga goals in 145
appearances for Barcelona.
Messi had
scored eight goals in his past five games in La Liga, including a double
against Espanyol and a hat trick against Levante.
Luis Suarez
who scored a brace in the victory over Eibar, and Barcelona manager Ernesto
Valverde had the best to say about Messi after the game. Valverde said he had
the feeling Messi will reach the 500-goal mark in La Liga. "But 400 is ridiculous. It's easy to say it, but
if you stack [the goals] one after the other ... The numbers are stratospheric,
incredible. Messi is an extraordinary player from another galaxy,"
Valverde added. "And it is not just that he is a goalscorer, it's everything
he creates, the goals he gives us, what he generates around him."
Suarez was happy with Messi's milestone saying, "Obviously, we
have to be very proud of Messi because every week he demonstrates how good he
is and continues to make history with the club."
Suarez opened scoring against Eibar with an assist from Philippe
Coutinho, who was making his first start in the league since December 2. Suarez
scored his second for the night - Barcelona's third, at the 59th minute,
assisted by Sergi Roberto.
The Blaugrana
No. 10 has won nine La Liga titles and is en route to a tenth, with Barcelona
five points clear of Atletico Madrid in the La Liga table. In sum, Messi has
now scored 25 goals in just 23 appearances in all competitions this season,
including 17 in La Liga.
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