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Messi was once more sensational for Barcelona as they beat Napoli 3-1 in the second leg of the Champions League last 16 (4-2 on aggregate). Barcelona were already leading in the 10th minute at Camp Nou thanks to Clement Lenglet's header from an Ivan Rakitic corner. Messi then doubled the lead for Barcelona in style in the 23rd minute as he wriggled his way past three defenders, before bending a shot between a further two Napoli players, and into the far side of David Ospina's net. Messi scored another goal 7 minutes later, but it was ruled out by VAR. Luis Suarez scored Barcelona's third goal of the night - a penalty awarded after Kalidou Koulibaly felled Messi. This happened to be Suarez's 25th Champions League goal. Napoli scored their lone goal of the game at the end of the first half, through Lorenzo Insigne. Messi's performance for Barcelona earned him the Man of the Match (MOTM) award. Barcelona are set to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter

Lionel Messi has not had his best season, but continues to make history in grand style. He scored two goals against Alaves in the ultimate La Liga game of the season, taking his total league goals tally to 25. He finished the season as the league's top scorer. This is his seventh La Liga golden boot, and fourth consecutive. Prior to this season, he and Telmo Zarra held the record for most La Liga golden boots (Pichichi Trophy). Now, he is the sole holder of the record. Messi also recorded 21 assists over the course of this campaign, breaking the record held by his former Barcelona teammate Xavi. Messi's closest challenger for league goals this season was Karim Benzema with 21. Worth noting is the fact that Messi has had his lowest goals tally in La Liga since 2008-09, despite being the league's top scorer this year. Barcelona lost their League title to Real Madrid this season. Real Madrid closed the season with 87 points and Barcelona, 82.

Ivan Rakitic scored the lone goal in Barcelona's win over Athletic Bilbao yesterday evening. Messi is still after his 700th career goal as he failed to find the back of the net during the game. He however provided the assist to Rakitic's goal - Rakitic's first goal of the season with 71 minutes on the clock. Messi has now provided 250 assists for Barcelona. Although Barcelona was the better team, they only had two shots on goal, with Athletic failing to record a single shot on goal. Barcelona also enjoyed the lion's share of ball possession - 73%, while Athletic had 27%. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stergen enjoyed his fifth clean sheet in a row. Barcelona are now three points ahead of Real Madrid who host Real Mallorca today. The following Barcelona players received a 7/10 performance rating by ESPN: Lionel Messi, Ansu Fati, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Ricard Puig and Ivan Rakitic. Antoine Griezmann, Arturo Vidal, Jordi Alba, Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andr

Barcelona played Real Sociedad at home and won 1-0 thanks to a Lionel Messi penalty. Barcelona were granted the penalty after a VAR review showed Robin Le Normand's handball from an Arturo Vidal cross. The Barcelona all-time top scorer kept his nerve and chipped the ball into the 81st minute to earn Barcelona the winner. It was another unconvincing display from Barcelona, and Messi picked up a yellow card for the third consecutive game, which has never happened before in his career. Ansu Fati scored a second goal for Barcelona in the last minute, from a Messi cross, but the goal was ruled offside by VAR. Barcelona are back to the top of La Liga ranking with 58 points and Real Madrid second with 56.  Messi has now scored 438 league goals, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo, making him the all-time top scorer in the five major leagues. Messi is also La Liga's Most Valuable Player for February. Messi's drop in performance may be due to a thigh injury he's had since

Lionel Messi and Barcelona had a night to forget at the Bernabeu yesterday defeated by Real Madrid in "El clasico" 2-0. Brazil youngster Vinicius Jr. however marked his name in the record books. His goal for Real Madrid in the 71st minute of play saw him break a record held by Messi - that of the youngest Clasico goalscorer. He was 19 years and 233 days old yesterday when he achieved that feat, that's 26 days younger than Lionel Messi when he scored his maiden Clasico goal in March 2007. For the first time in over 5 years, Real Madrid got to beat Barcelona in La Liga at the Bernabeu stadium. Barcelona had the uperhand in the first half with Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibault Courtois having to produce two smart saves to keep out goals from Arthur and Messi. Real Madrid picked up the tempo in the second half with Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stergen denying Isco twice with brilliant stops. But there was only so much Ter Stergen could do singlehandedly, with th

Lorenzo Insigne, Napoli forward and captain agrees that Lionel Messi is the best player in the world, but refuses to compare him to Diego Maradona, a Napoli legend. Maradona played for both Barcelona and Napoli during his best years. He led Napoli to their last Italian championship.  Napoli face Barcelona in the Champions League tomorrow. "Currently, Messi is the best player in the world, but I can't compare him to Maradona because for us Neapolitans, Diego is sacred," Insigne told the press. "At this moment, Messi is the best of all." He also told the press that Napoli needed to play their best to beat Barcelona. "We must play a perfect game," Insigne stated. "We need to be good in defense and attack, and this is a great challenge. "We'll try to score goals and not concede any. "Most of us know the atmosphere that there will be at the San Paolo," Insigne added. "The way the fan shout when the Champions

Barcelona maestro Lionel Messi is back to scoring after a mini 4 La Liga games drought. On Saturday, Messi scored four goals in Barcelona's 5-0 rout of Eibar in their most recent La Liga outing. Messi scored his first 14 minutes into the game - a brilliant individual goal in which Messi danced past three players to find the back of the net. Messi clinically converted a Sergio Busquets pass in the 37th minute in his second goal. He completed his goal treble two minutes later - a tap-in of a good pass by Ivan Rakitic.  In summary, Messi registered a spectacular hat-trick in the space of 26 minutes. Barcelona's latest signing Martin Braithwaite provided the assist for Messi's fourth goal. Arthur Melo scored Barcelona's fifth in the 89th minute, netting a rebound shot by Martin Braithwaite. Messi has now scored 48 hat-tricks in his club career (excluding Champions League and others), surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick total of 47. Messi is also La Lig

Barcelona romped to a 5-0 victory over Leganes in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, with Lionel Messi making more history as usual. He became the player with the most wins recorded in Spanish football. Antoine Griezmann and Clement Lenglet scored for Barcelona in the first half, and Messi extended Barcelona's lead to 3 - 0 just before the hour mark. Arthur scored another goal in the 77th minute, and Messi scored the last of the night right before the final whistle. The following are the players who have recorded the most victories in Spanish clubs: Lionel Messi: 500 Xavi Hernandez: 482 Iker Casillas: 463 Andres Iniesta: 459 Andoni Zubizarreta: 444 Sergio Ramos: 439 A 32-year-old Messi was able to reach the 500 wins milestone in just 710 games. He has now scored 20 goals for Barcelona this season. Barcelona have qualified for the Copa del Rey quarterfinals alongside the likes of Real Sociedad, Real Madrid, Granada and Villarreal. Following their loss to Valencia

Talking to  Panenka  magazine, 2005 Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho opened up on his friendship with Lionel Messi while at Barcelona. The Brazilian enjoyed a fruitful five-year spell at the Camp Nou between 2003 and 2008, winning two La Liga titles, one UEFA Champions League title and two Spanish Super Cups with the club. He is still revered by many Barcelona fans till date. Messi emerged and flourished as Barcelona's new star after Ronaldinho left the club. Ronaldinho took Messi under his wing once Messi joined the Barcelona first team.  Ronaldinho told  Panenka  magazine: "When I arrived at Barcelona, there was already talk of a kid who stood out. "Then we were friends; we started playing together and we got on very well. "He arrived being different to the others, and we spoke with [Frank] Rijkaard so that he came to train with us - it was all very fast. "I was lucky enough to give him the pass for his first goal. "Over time, it's v

Messi is as mesmerizing as ever, showing no signs of decline. Barcelona new coach Quique Setien is the latest Barcelona manager to benefit from Messi's scoring prowess. Messi scored Barcelona's lone goal in their last La Liga match vs Grenada. That goal saw him produce an extraordinary record which was published by Barcelona's Turkish page - 500 goals in his last 500 games for Barcelona. Within the same time frame, Messi has provided 200 assists, enjoyed 358 wins, 89 draws and suffered 53 defeats with Barcelona. Quique Setien has chosen to rest the Barcelona star in their round-of-32 Copa del Rey tie vs Ibiza. Other notable absentees include Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique. Injured Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele will also not partake in the game. Leo Messi has scored 17 goals in his 21 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona this season.

Lionel Messi and his teammates lost to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal on Thursday, They dominated the game at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium until the last ten minutes wherein they conceded two sloppy goals, with Atletico Madrid winning 3 - 2. Barcelona were leading 2-1 as of the 81st minute. Messi and Griezmann had scored for Barcelona. Messi scored in the 51st minute and Griezmann in the 61st. Messi's second goal was disallowed for an adjudged handball. Gerard Pique' goal for Barcelona was disallowed in the 73rd minute. Barcelona's errors in the final ten began with Barcelona goalkeeper Neto Mura conceding a clumsy penalty. He brought down Vitolo, for which Atletico was awarded a penalty. Alvaro Morata leveled from the penalty spot. Angel Correa scored Atletico's third goal five minutes later as a result of poor defending from Barcelona. Neto was unable to stop the incoming shot as the ball looped off his gloves and over the line. A

In a recent interview, Lionel Messi revealed the secret behind his excellent free-kick taking and the influence Samuel Eto'o's advice had on his game. “I always remember the day that Eto’o told me: ‘When you start scoring goals, you won’t stop.’  And then one day the lid opened, one went in and then everything started to go in. Because before that I was getting a lot of chances but I wasn’t taking them.”  You're obviously eager to know what the secret to the free-kick precision is - well, Leo says "it's all about learning and training." He said, "It’s true that I’ve been studying goalkeeping a bit more lately, and above all when taking free kicks  I watch to see if the keeper moves, if he takes a step in either direction. It’s all about learning and training . I’ve been improving my free kicks with practice.” Messi's focus when he steps onto the pitch is the game, and not goal-scoring, as he said “I am less focused on scoring goals and more

32-year-old Lionel Messi shows no signs of slowing down yet as he nets his 50th goal of the year - an impressive 20-yard curling strike in the 69th minute vs Alaves on Saturday. The Griezmann, Messi, Suarez trio chipped in a goal each, with midfielder Arturo Vidal scoring as well. Griezmann scored first in the 14th minute of play, with Messi providing the assist.  "I needed to score a goal before the holidays, now I can go into them happy with myself," said the French World Cup winner who has scored only seven goals since his transfer to Barcelona in the summer.  "We have a great team with some of the best players around and when we don't click, well, there's always Messi." Messi had a goal ruled out by VAR before Arturo Vidal scored in the close of the first half. Pere Pons pulled one back for the visitors in the 56th minute. Messi extended Barcelona's lead in the 69th minute. Luis Suarez who had already provided two assists - one for Messi a

Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports that PSG star Neymar, and father have lodged another lawsuit against FC Barcelona - his former club. They demand  € 3.5 million in unpaid wages, and accuse club president Josep Maria Bartomeu of acting in "absolute bad faith", issuing "reprisals" as a way of punishing the PSG forward for walking out on the Spain giants in 2017. The 27-year-old also believes the Catalan side owe him  €43.6m  via a renewal bonus. According to El Mundo, FC Barcelona also believe Neymar owes them  €8.5 million in damages and interest, and even more due to the first part of a renewal bonus. This financial stand-off makes a Neymar return to Barcelona even more unlikely, despite both parties expressing a desire for the Brazilian's return to Camp Nou last summer.  Neymar won two La Liga titles and 1 Champions League title during his four-year spell with Barcelona (from 2013 to 2017) then left the club in controversial circumstances in 2017.

Messi displayed his sixth Ballon d'Or trophy at Camp Nou prior to the La Liga match between Barcelona and Mallorca. It was a beautiful night for the Catalans as they struck a comprehensive 5-2 win over Mallorca, with Messi netting a hat-trick, and Griezmann and Suarez scoring a goal each. Messi has now scored 53 career hat-tricks; 35 of them scored in La Liga. He now solely holds the record for the most hat-tricks in La Liga, after passing the 34 he and Cristiano Ronaldo had each scored. Barcelona goal keeper Ter Stergen provided the assist for Barcelona's first goal, netted by Antoine Griezmann in the seventh minute. Messi put Barcelona 2-0 ahead in the 17th minute, with the crowd chanting his name: "Messi! Messi! Messi!" Ante Budimir pulled one back for the visitors in the 35th minute, temporarily silencing Camp Nou. Then Messi scored another for Barcelona. Luis Suarez scored "the most beautiful goal" of his career, through a backheel tap, putti

The first half of one of the toughest La Liga clashes - Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona saw the goalkeepers of both sides lifting their respective teams, with Atletico Madrid being the sharper side. Marc Andre Ter Stergen performed two outstanding saves for Barcelona in the first half, and Atletico's Jan Oblak did same as he tipped Gerard Pique's header onto the bar. Barcelona's other savior Lionel Messi was mostly silent in the first hour of play and got fully engaged in the game with a curling shot into the hour mark. Barcelona struggled to break down a tough Atletico Madrid defence at the Wanda Metropolitano, and it almost looked as though the game would end in a draw... till Messi genius got the winner for the Catalans in the 86th minute. Messi played a beautiful give-and-go with Luis Suarez, with "El Pistolero" setting up Messi's left-footed curler that went low and into Oblak's net. This was Messi's 30th career goal vs Atletico Madrid. Barcel

Atletico Madrid full-back Kieran Trippier has spoken with  The Athletic  about his Messi experience, ahead of Atletico Madrid's upcoming clash with Barcelona at Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday. Trippier faced Messi in last season's Champions League when he played for Tottenham Hotspur. Barcelona beat Tottenham 4-2 with Messi scoring two goals. Trippier joined Atletico Madrid during the summer transfer window. Talking about the Tottenham vs Barcelona game last season, he said,  "Everyone knows how good he is, but I think he turned up a few extra notches that night. "He scored two and he must have hit the woodwork about four times. He was unbelievable." When asked what it is like to defend against Messi, he added, "It’s weird in a way. He spends a lot of the game just walking and walking. "You play against ( Liverpool ’s) Sadio Mane, for instance, and if you take your eye off him for a second, he’ll just dart in behind you. "But with Mes

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has broken yet another Champions League record. By scoring against Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday's Champions League game, he has become the first player to score against 34 different teams in the Champions League. It was a good night for the Barcelona captain as he was directly involved in all of Barcelona's three goals in the 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund, providing assists for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann. Messi, Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo formerly shared the record for scoring against the highest number of teams in the Champions League; 33. He's now a step ahead of Ronaldo in that regard. Messi has scored against the following teams in the Champions League: Borussia Dortmund,  Slavia Prague,  PSV Eindhoven Spurs ,  Manchester United , Olympique Lyon,  Liverpool,  Juventus,  Olympiacos,  Chelsea,  Celtic Man City ,  Borussia Monchengladbach ,  Paris Saint Germain AS Roma,  Bayer Leverkusen ,  Arsenal ,  Ajax ,  APOEL  Nic

An exposé on Brazilian football prodigy Neymar Junior by Antoine Bourlon, via Ballon d'Or awarding France Football has revealed Messi's confessions to Neymar after Barcelona suffered a shock 0-4 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals. Messi allegedly told Neymar on phone: " Only together can we win the Champions League, I want you to come back. In two years I will leave and you will take over’. Messi and majority of the Barcelona squad were looking forward to a Neymar return this season. According to Gerard Pique, several Barcelona players including Messi were willing to take a pay cut to facilitate Neymar's transfer to Camp Nou. Messi, Suarez and Neymar formed a fearsome frontline back in the day, with the trio firing the Catalans to Champions League victory in their last spell together (in 2015).  Could Messi have just been speaking in the heat and hurt of the moment? Will he end his career at Barcelona? Time w

Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi joined Barcelona's academy La Masia at the age of 13 in February 2001 after being offered a contract on a paper napkin by then first-team director Charly Rexach. He graduated to the senior squad in 2004 and has since then been the club's most successful player. In a recent documentary produced by OTRO titled “Becoming Leo Messi”, Messi who may be winning his sixth Ballon d'Or this year opened up about the challenges he faced upon arriving Barcelona from his native Argentina. Messi left Newell's Old Boys - the club for which he played in Argentina - for Spain aged 13, and faced tough times especially with his family's return to Argentina.  He tells OTRO in the documentary: “I was in Barcelona for about 15 days and then I returned to Argentina. After a few months, they called me and I said yes, that I was willing to come. Let me come here and start my dream in Barcelona. It was a happiness for me and my family.