‘MONSTROUS’ MESSI MARKS 400TH MILESTONE
Barcelona star sends leaders five points clear
LIONEL Messi scored his 400th La Liga goal on Sunday, a total his coach Ernesto Valverde called “monstrous”, as Barcelona terrorised Eibar to reclaim their five-point cushion at the top of the table.
Messi drove the ball into the bottom corner after being teed up by Luis Suarez, who added two goals to his own tally either side of the Argentinian marking another historic record at the Nou Camp.
“It’s monstrous,” said Valverde, after the 3-0 victory. “It’s easy to say but you have to score them one after the other, it’s a longterm job.
“His numbers are stratospheric, incredible. He is from another galaxy.”
Victory saw Valverde’s side restore their advantage over Atletico Madrid, who had briefly cut the gap to two points after beating Levante 1-0 earlier in the day.
“There is a lot of time left,” Valverde said. “It is a good cushion but nothing is done yet.”
Messi extends his own hefty lead as the division’s all-time top scorer, which currently stands at 89 goals, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, now at Juventus in Italy, owns a better goals-togame ratio, with his 311 strikes coming in 292 matches. Messi’s quadruple century arrived in his 435th.
In fact, it was one of Messi’s quieter nights in terms of performance and in another team it might have been Suarez or Philippe Coutinho picking up the plaudits.
Suarez assisted Messi, applied a classy finish and was on the end of a scintillating team move for Barca’s first.
Coutinho was the provider for that one and delivered a sparkling display to appease those doubting his future at the club. The Brazilian has endured a spell out of Valverde’s preferred starting line-up but he converted a penalty against Levante in the Kings’ Cup on Wednesday, and was arguably man of the match here.
Real Madrid won too, beating Real Betis, to ensure Spain’s big three all prevailed in the same round for only the fourth time this season.
The pressure has been on Real all season but they battled to a 2-1 win over Betis for their first league victory this year.
Luka Modric sent a thunderous shot into the top corner but Betis were in the ascendancy after Sergio Canales poked in a secondhalf equaliser.
Marcelo had been dropped by Santiago Solari, Karim Benzema taken off with a dislocated finger and Isco remained on the bench, watching three youngsters sent on ahead of him. Ceballos, who left Betis for Real two years ago, was one of them.
With a free-kick on the edge of the area and goalkeeper Pau Lopez leaving his left-hand corner open, Ceballos duly sent a dipping shot into the gap to snatch a dramatic win.
“It was an emotional moment for him,” Solari said. “A former player doing damage, football creates this kind of magic.”
The victory took Real Madrid above Alaves into fourth place on 33 points, although they are still 10 points behind leaders Barcelona.