Staff Reporter.
Lionel Messi celebrated a record-breaking 768th appearance for Barcelona with two goals as the Spanish giants thrashed Real Sociedad 6-1 in La Liga.
The Argentina forward, 33, moved one game clear of former midfielder Xavi’s total as Barca closed the gap on leaders Atletico Madrid to four points.
Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring, Sergino Dest scored twice and Ousmane Dembele also found the net.
Messi has now scored 23 league goals so far this season.
At 5-0 down, Ander Barrenetxea did manage to find a consolation goal for Sociedad with arguably the strike of the night, but it was far too late for Imanol Alguacil’s side to stage a fightback at the Anoeta Stadium.
Messi did not disappoint on his history-making night, showing the same energy and enthusiasm he has done throughout his career for the Catalan club.
His first major act was to turn provider for American Dest to score his first goal for Barcelona. The threaded through-ball also took Messi’s assist tally up to eight for the 2020-21 season.
After testing Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro twice in the first half, Messi finally grabbed a well-deserved reward during the second half by poking home Barca’s fourth.
The icing on the cake for Messi came on 89 minutes when the Argentine’s good link-up play with left-back Jordi Alba resulted in a second goal on his special night.
As much as the three points were a welcome birthday gift for boss Ronald Koeman, Barca still trail league leaders Atletico Madrid in the race to become champions.
“It’s always important for players other than Leo to score goals. That way it’s much harder to defend against us,” Koeman told reporters.
The victory took Barca above Real Madrid into second place in the standings on 62 points, four behind leaders Atletico Madrid with 10 games left to play.
Meanwhile Luis Suarez scored his 500th career goal to give La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid victory over Alaves.
The Uruguay forward reached the milestone by heading home Kieran Trippier’s cross in the second half.
It was his 19th goal for Atleti, while the 34-year-old has also scored 198 goals for Barcelona, 82 for Liverpool, and 63 for Uruguay.
Jan Oblak saved a late Joselu penalty to ensure Atletico remained four points clear at the top of La Liga.
Suarez began his career at Uruguay side Club Nacional, where he scored 12 goals, before moving to Eredivisie outfit Groningen where he netted 15 times.
He joined Ajax in 2007, adding 111 goals before he joined Liverpool in 2011 and then Barcelona in 2014.