Messi: I can get better
Barcelona ace not getting complacent despite yet another record.
Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi says he must improve on all fronts even as debate rages as to whether he is the best player ever. His admission comes after he became the first player to score in 11 consecutive La Liga matches on Sunday when he hit four as leaders Barcelona eased past a ten- man Osasuna with a 5- 1 victory.
“In everything we do in life we try to improve on all fronts and in football I am no exception,” he said.
Messi, 25, claims to be mulling over how to do even better despite having already won a welter of honours, including a record four straight Ballon d’Or titles.
Playing for Barcelona keeps his feet on the ground, Messi says, not least because clubmates Xavi and Andres Iniesta were also candidates for his footballer of the year status, conferred on him once again earlier this month.
Messi says remaining humble is part of the Barcelona philosophy. “It’s a dressing room where we are all very similar in outlook. The way we are and our education both within and outside the club gave us that [ outlook],” he said.
Disappointing campaign
Messi, who saw off Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Iniesta for the Ballon d’Or for 2012, won the accolade in part for breaking Gerd Mueller’s 40year record for the most goals in a calendar year - the Barcelona man finished the year with an astonishing 91 goals in all competitions.
Even so, with Barca he was unable to land either La Liga or the Champions League in a somewhat disappointing campaign, while some observers insist he cannot yet be classed as the greatest player ever, moving ahead of Pele and Diego Maradona, until he lifts the World Cup. Messi also said that he would not change his view that the club must come before the individual.
“My goal is not to break records, every season I want to win everything possible with my team - be it Barcelona or the national side,” he insisted.
In Sunday’s game at the Nou Camp, Pedro Rodriguez got the other goal and Raoul Loe grabbed a consolation for Osasuna, who played for more than an hour with ten men after Alejandro Arribas was harshly sent- off after two handball in- cidents. Barcelona remain 15 points ahead of Real Madrid in third position and moved 11 ahead of Atletico Madrid, who lost 3- 0 at Athletic Bilbao. Osasuna remain in the relegation zone on 18 points, two from safety.
Messi now has 33 goals for the season, 12 more than Cristiano Ronaldo, who earlier on Sunday hit a hat- trick as Real Madrid beat Getafe 4- 0.
David Villa started his first league game for Barca in more than two months and former Liverpool player Javier Mascherano filled in for the suspended Gerard Pique in the centre of defence.
Meanwhile second- place Atletico Madrid, who split the two giants at the top of the league, lost ground losing 3- 0 at Athletic Bilbao.