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Athletic Bilbao 0-4 Barcelona: Lionel Messi scores brace and makes history as Barcelona win their 31st Copa del Rey

Barcelona easily cruised to their first trophy of 2020-21 - their first silverware since 2019 - as they thrashed Athletic Bilbao 4 goals to nothing. Barcelona were unable to find their breakthrough despite having a lion's share of ball possession until the 60th minute. Antoine Griezmann turned in Frenkie de Jong's cross to give Barcelona their first. Barcelona would go on to score three more goals in the space of 12 minutes. De Jong scored Barcelona's second, merely 3 minutes after Griezmann's. Thereon, it was a Messi show, with the Argentine driving from his own half, exchanging twice with De Jong to score Barcelona’s third. His second goal - Barcelona's fourth - came in four minutes after his first - a truly sublime goal. Messi's brace takes his goal tally for the season to 31 goals. As of now, he has scored more than 3 goals for Barcelona in all competitions in 13 straight seasons. Barcelona have now won the Copa del Rey 31 times. Messi passed Telmo Zar...

Gerard Pique rescues Barcelona at the death as they qualify for the Copa del Rey finals

It was another remontada for Barcelona - converting a first leg Copa del Rey semi-final loss (0-2) to Sevilla. The game was drawing to its end and a defeat seemed most likely, despite Ousmane Dembele scoring Barcelona's first in the 12th minute. Barcelona seemed unable to add to their lead after the first goal. Thankfully, Marc Andre Ter Stergen kept hope alive for Barcelona by stopping Ocampos' penalty in the 73rd minute - a penalty conceded after a clash between Oscar Mingueza and the former. Pique who has been in better form following his recovery from a knee injury netted for the Catalans in the last minute of the game, to give them a lifeline with prolongation. Credit also goes to Antoine Griezmann who carved out the chance for Pique's header with a fine cross. Martin Braithwaite sealed victory for Barcelona early on in the additional 30 minutes. On aggregate, Barcelona won 3-2 and will will either face Athletic Club or Levante at the finals.

Barcelona progress to the Copa del Rey quarter finals with goals from Messi and de Jong

Rayo Vallecano may be a second division club, but they were a tough opponent for Barcelona at the Copa del Rey last 16 game played on January 27th. Barcelona dominated the game, but Los Franjirrojos opened scoring first, with a goal from Fran Garcia. Barcelona won the Segunda side 2-1 at Vallencas, to progress to the quarter finals, thanks to second half goals from Lionel Messi and Frenkie de Jong. Messi was back in Barcelona's starting XI after serving a two-match ban for a red card he received in their Spanish Supercoppa loss to Athletic Bilbao on January 17. That was his first red card in his Barcelona career. He has now surpassed Barcelona Legend Josep Samitier as Barcelona player with the most matches played in the history of the Copa del Rey. Messi now has 76 appearances in the competition, one more than Josep Samitier. Sevilla crushed 2019 Copa winners Valencia 3-0 at home, joining Barcelona in Friday's quarterfinal draw.

Messi nets a brace and provides an assist as he reaches 500 wins with Barcelona

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 ...

500 goals for Lionel Messi in his last 500 games

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 breaks record despite Barcelona's loss to Valencia in Copa del Rey final

Barcelona may have lost 1-2 to Valencia in the final of the Copa del Rey but that didn't prevent the Argentine maestro from standing out. Messi scored Barcelona's lone goal in the game to become the first ever player to net in six separate Copa del Rey finals. He has now scored seven goals in six Copa del Rey finals. Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo gave Valencia an early lead over Barcelona in the first half of the game, with Messi pulling one back for Barcelona in the 73rd minute. Barcelona failed to compete during the first 45 minutes, with poor performances from the likes of Arthur, Semedo, Coutinho, and Rakitic.  'Los Che' on the other hand played heartily, defeated the odds and won their first Copa del Rey since 2008. Barcelona had over 70% of ball possession, created the most chances but Valencia had a sharp pace on the counter-attack, making the most of their limited ball possession. Valverde's future at Barcelona is in doubt after Barcelona's Champions ...

Messi-less Barcelona succumb to 0-2 loss to Sevilla in Copa del Rey

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde rotated the Barcelona line-up for the first-leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. He left out Lionel Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Philippe Countinho in the starting XI. New loan-signing Kevin-Prince Boateng made his debut but was replaced by Luis Suarez in the second half. Boateng played with personality and intensity, in an athletic way but tailed off little by little and was replaced on the hour.  In the first half, Barcelona had a brilliant opportunity to score an away goal but Malcom's strike could only find the side-netting. Sevilla's Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder gave Sevilla a 2-0 win at home with their second-half goals. Valverde brought on Coutinho and Luis Suarez in a double change after Sevilla went up 1-0. They both made some effort but were unable to concretize their efforts into a goal. Coutinho hasn't been in good form lately and actually lost the ball in the build up to Sevilla's secon...

Messi returns to training as broken arm heals

Messi broke his arm earlier in the month during the Barcelona - Sevilla La Liga clash but he is back in training and will soon be able to resume games with his Catalan club. The Argentina international's injury ruled him out of El Clasico but the Blaugrana triumphed in a 5-1 victory at Camp Nou. Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde however insisted Messi's presence was still missed. In a news conference, Valverde said, "For us, since last week when he got injured, we were probably thinking how we would respond on the pitch." "There's only one answer, you have to respond as a team and that's what we've done. The result could've been different but that's the only answer we can give you. "We're delighted for the team but obviously the sooner he's back the better for us because we miss him. We want him back tomorrow." Despite Messi's return to training, he still has some mobility issues and is thus unlikely to fe...
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