A late strike by Lionel Messi in a game against Mallorca on Saturday (June 13) was enough to put paid to any worries that the break caused by the coronavirus pandemic might have ended his record-breaking form.
Messi was imperious as FC Barcelona outclassed Mallorca 4-0 at San Moix, in the Catalans’ first outing since the campaign was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chilean, Arturo Vidal netted the opener barely two minutes into the contest before Martin Braithwaite scored his first ever Barça goal, to make it 2-0. Left-back, Jordi Alba also made a goalscoring contribution to Barça’s cause before Messi struck to make it 4-0 in the second period.
The goal by Messi was historic and not just because it took his tally for the 2019-20 La Liga season to 20. The strike, which arrived deep into second half stoppage time, meant that Messi is now the only player to score 20 or more goals in Spain’s top flight in 12 consecutive seasons. He has also assisted 14 times this season in the Liga, once again underlying his importance to the Barça set-up.
Brazil and FC Barcelona legend, Rivaldo has been suitably impressed by Messi’s consistently high standards and was quick to discuss the importance of the FC Barça captain and how best the Argentine should be managed during the title run.
“Lionel Messi had some physical issues last week, so there’s a lot of discussion about whether he play the whole game for Barcelona in their first game back against Mallorca on Saturday,” Rivaldo told Betfair.
“Barca are two points ahead of Real Madrid at the top of the table so the title race is tight. If Barca can pull away, they could rest Messi in a few games.
“If the battle goes to the wire then he might have fewer chances to rest – perhaps only in games which Barca manage to dominate from the first-half – but it will be important for Quique Setien to manage his squad well, as it won’t just be Messi that will reach the first game still looking to be 100 per cent fit, after all, everyone has stopped and it’s not easy to resume on the best form.
“As we know, Messi is always in contention for the ‘Pichichi’ top scorer award in La Liga and always making the difference in the team, so he wants to be on the pitch all the time and it’s difficult for the manager to rotate him.
“He also fights for the Ballon d’Or every season and that’s on his mind regularly, so you can’t go to Messi and simply tell him ‘take a rest’,” he said.
FC Barcelona currently sit top of La Liga with 61 points from 28 matches. Second-placed Real Madrid who have garnered 56 points from 27 matches face Eibar at Estadio Alfredo Stefano on Sunday.
