Lionel Messi leads Barca win against Mallorca

Lionel Messi of Barcelona has returned after a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He led a grand victory of his team on Saturday with a goal and two assists and even made a record of scoring 20 consecutive goals in the last 12 seasons in La Liga.

Thanks to Messi, Barcelona defeated Mallorca 4-0 in a visiting match in Mallorca, Spain on Saturday. Barcelona recorded two victories in a row in the league resumed after some three months since it won against Real Sociedad (1-0) on March 6. Barcelona (61 points, 19 wins, four draws and five losses), the pack leader of the league, is ahead of Real Madrid C.F. (56 points), which had one less match by five points.

The Barcelona star assisted Martin Braithwaite’s goal with a header in the 37th minute when his team was winning by 1-0. Jordi Alba added the third goal in the 79th minute after latching onto a through ball from Messi. Messi netted a goal with his right foot, collecting a pass from Luis Suarez and dribbling past two opponents in the second minute of injury time.

Messi ranks first with 20 goals in 23 La Liga matches, making a large gap with the second Karim Benzema of Real Madrid with 14 goals. The Argentine footballer also ranks first in assists by recording 14, while the next in the rank Suarez only made eight assists.

There is a fat chance that he maintains his position in both as football teams have 10 to 11 matches left until the end of the season. He is the first player in the history of La Liga founded in 1929 that scored more than 20 goals in 12 consecutive seasons. He recorded the most scores in a season in La Liga’s history by scoring 50 goals in the 2011 to 2012 season and 23 goals in the 2008 to 2009 season. He played in 475 matches and scored 439 goals, which is the highest number of goals in La Liga’s history. There is a large gap with Cristiano Ronaldo (311 goals), the second player in the record.


yesbro@donga.com