Lionel Messi equals incredible record held by Ronaldinho during Villarreal draw.
It would be really tough for Lionel Messi to enter the succeeding week without breaking a record. The Barcelona Superstar sat on the bench against Villarreal to watch his side go down 3-2 in the second half until he was unleashed along with his strike partner Luis Suarez in the 61st minute.
The yellow submarines added another one in the 80th minute, but the Blaugrana were not prepared to give up at Estadio de la Cerámica, making a monumental comeback in the injury time. Lionel Messi dispatched a free-kick in the 91st minute before Luis Suarez scored in the dying seconds of the game to equalize the score and steal a point.
Lionel Messi scored a free-kick against Espanyol in the weekend and added another one at Estadio de la Ceramica to equal an extraordinary record held by Ronaldinho. The Brazilian had scored six free-kicks during the 2006/07 season and his old teammate Lionel Messi equalized by beating Sergio Asenjo on Tuesday.
Argentine International has been unplayable from open play this campaign and proved his mettle by converting free-kicks like penalties over the last few months. Since the start of 2018, the 31-year-old has found the back of the net 12 times from the free-kicks which is an unfathomable record.
He broke another record against Villarreal with that goal. The Barcelona forward pipped his rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the all-time leading scorer in the top five leagues of Europe. Messi moved ahead of Ronaldo by scoring 415 goals from 456 games, whilst the former Real Madrid forward has scored 414 goals from 514 games.
In the post-match press conference, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde made a huge claim by quoting that the team is dependent on the output of the Argentine.
“Of course there is a Messi dependence, of course it exists, he is the best in the world,” Valverde told reporters.
“But we must know that when he isn’t playing, we must play the same way, like in the first half.
“There was no Messi dependence [in the first half] and the team was fine and [should have been] able to win the match.”
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Barcelona will play second-placed Atletico Madrid and the fate for the League title depends on this titanic fixture at Nou Camp on Sunday.
