Leo Messi’s hat-trick against Granada has made him the highest goalscorer in FC Barcelona history, while goals from Xavi and Tello also helped to put Barça within five points of the Spanish League leader, Real Madrid.
Two superb first half goals from Xavi and Messi gave Barça the win in Seville, with an excellent performance – particularly in the first half-that’ll be a real morale boost for FC Barcelona.
The Barça manager reckons the real tests are only about to begin, in all of the Champions League, Spanish League and Cup. From now on, he warns, “there is no turning the page after any setbacks.” He also feels that it will be of benefit to everybody that the return leg of the Champions League quarter final against AC Milan will be at the Camp Nou. Besides, Guardiola said on Abidal that right now nothing is more important than “finding a solution to the illness he’s suffering so that he can carry on with his life”.
The FC Barcelona Captain, Carles Puyol, stated that Abidal is “in good spirits”. “He’s a strong person”, he added. “He showed strength last season and he’ll do it again now” insisted Puyol. Besides, the Barça captain doesn’t have a particular preference regarding the Champions League draw and playing against Real Madrid. Finally, he underlined that Guardiola’s decision on his contract renewal has to be respected.
Leo Messi was again on target against Racing de Santander, scoring both goals as Barça extended its winning run to six games with a 0-2 win. However, Real Madrid did also win against Betis and is still 10 points ahead, on top of the Spanish League.
Lionel Messi is the first player in the history of the Champions League to score five goals in one game. The Barça player has scored 29 goals in the European competition. Messi, despite his sublime display, was humble after the match: “The most important thing is that we won, that’s what we wanted.”
Five goals from a stratospheric Messi and two more from Tello crushed Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou, to qualify FC Barcelona for the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The 5 goals from Messi are an absolute record in the Champions League. Messi put Barça 2-0 up in the first half and completed his full-house in the closing stages, six minutes before Bayer Leverkusen scored their consolation goal in injury time. Two goals from the young Tello in the second half completed Barça’s score.
The Barça manager will not instruct his team to play defensively to protect the 1-3 lead they have over the Bayer Leverkusen. Guardiola admits that the Champions League “is a beautiful competition that allows us to take a break from the Spanish League”. On Piqué’s controversy related to the referees’ actions, Guardiola completely agrees with the FC Barcelona’s stance.
The Brazilian FC Barcelona player reckons that Barça’s win against Sporting will strengthen their aim to: “keep on fighting until the last day of this league season”. “We won’t be giving the League away”, he stated. Adriano also talked about the Pique’s red card in the FC Barcelona vs Sporting de Gijón game and the news that the referees technical committee wants to take the centre half to the Spanish Federation’s disciplinary panel for his comments after the game. Adriano explained: “he and the ref were talking about it after the game and they cleared things up”.
Barça put in a gritty performance to see off an ultra defensive Sporting team despite playing most of the second half with ten men after Piqué was sent off. Late goals from Keita and Xavi sealed the win after Iniesta had opened the scoring in the first half.
A clever goal from Leo Messi on 81 minutes gave Barça the three points against a tough tackling and competitive Atlético Madrid at the Vicente Calderon. Real Madrid is still 10 points ahead, but FC Barcelona is in the hunt.
Barça face the always tough trip to Atlético de Madrid’s Vicente Calderón stadium, determined to maintain their challenge to retain their Spanish League title. Real Madrid is 10 points ahead, but FC Barcelona is far from giving up the championship.
Leo Messi’s four goals on Sunday night against Valencia have taken his overall tally in the Spanish League to 146. The 146 goals he has scored even place him above the legendary FC Barcelona player César Rodríguez as Messi looks set to smash records galore.
Barça came back from an early goal by Piatti for the visitors to bury Valencia with four goals from Messi and a fifth from Xavi to round off a fantastic performance that showed FC Barcelona are still up for the fight for the Spanish League title.
FC Barcelona have given their fans the perfect Valentine’s Day gift – a convincing win away to Bayer Leverkusen at the Champions League that puts them well on course for a place in the quarter finals. Alexis (2) and Messi scored the goals for Barça.