Lionel Messi scored in his 500th match for Barcelona to help them ease past Real Betis Balompie 4-0 on Wednesday and ensure they kept the La Liga lead to conclude a superb year for the Catalan club.
Barcelona broke a run of consecutive draws in the league to cap one of their best years in club history.
Before kickoff, Andres Iniesta paraded the team’s recently won Club World Cup trophy, their fifth title of last year. The four goals scored on Wednesday took the team’s tally to 180 for last year, bettering Real Madrid’s milestone of 178 in 2014.
Photo: AFP
“It was a spectacular year and we wanted to finish it in the same way,” Messi said. “It will be complicated to better this, but like always, we will try to do so.”
Messi recovered from a hard knock with Antonio Adan — which was ruled a penalty against the Betis goalkeeper — by scoring Barcelona’s second goal after an own-goal following the penalty put the Catalan side on their way.
“It was a strange game. I don’t know if it was a penalty or not, when I was hit I didn’t realize what had happened,” Messi said about the collision with Adan, which left him on the ground and momentarily silenced the Camp Nou.
While Messi was being examined by team doctors, Neymar stepped up to take the penalty, only to send his shot off the crossbar. Betis defender Heiko Westermann disputed the rebound with two Barcelona players, but he ended up batting it into his own net just before the half-hour mark.
Three minutes later, Messi played Neymar through with a long pass that he returned for the club’s all-time leading scorer to notch his 425th club goal.
Betis coach Pepe Mel was sent off for protesting moments later and his team never showed signs of mounting a comeback.
Luis Suarez scored twice after halftime to take over from Neymar as the competition’s leading scorer with 15 and only the woodwork — which Messi, Neymar and Dani Alves all hit in the second half — saved Betis from an even bigger loss.
“We just came back from the holidays, so it is normal that the rhythm dips a bit and the games at the Club World Cup always take their toll,” Messi said. “Possibly it wasn’t a great game, but we managed to do the most important thing which was to win and start another important period well.”
With a game still to play, Luis Enrique’s team led La Liga on goal difference from Atletico Madrid, who scored twice in the final four minutes to win 2-0 against crosstown rival Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.
Angel Correa finished off a flowing buildup engineered by fellow substitute Thomas Partey to break the deadlock in the 87th and Antoine Griezmann struck again in the 90th.
Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid remain two points behind the pacesetters after he missed one penalty before converting a second spot-kick and adding another goal to lead a 3-1 win over injury-ravaged Real Sociedad.
The win took some pressure off beleaguered coach Rafa Benitez, who was jeered when his name was announced before the match by some of the Santiago Bernabeu crowd for Madrid’s erratic form this season.
Ronaldo “accepted the responsibility after the missed penalty and put the team on his back,” Benitez said.
Both Sociedad midfielder Sergio Canales and team top-scorer Imanol Agirretxe were carried off on stretchers in the first half.
Preliminary tests showed that Canales, who has twice torn ligaments in his right knee, had torn ligaments in his left knee.
Madrid started strong and were kept from an early score only by the goalkeeping of Geronimo Rulli, who made three saves before Ronaldo wasted his first chance from the penalty spot.
Sociedad’s Yuri Berchiche was whistled for a foul after light contact with Karim Benzema in the area, but Ronaldo blasted his shot well over the bar.
Ronaldo did not miss on his second opportunity before the interval, after a pass hit Berichiche’s leg before ricocheting off his arm on the edge of the box.
Sociedad substitute Bruma made it 1-1 when he curled a strike just inside the far post four minutes after the break. The winger continued to cause Madrid trouble until Ronaldo latched onto Marcelo’s corner and threaded a low volley through the crowded area an hour in for his 14th league goal.
Substitute Lucas Vazquez rounded off Madrid’s win.
Also, Raul Garcia gave Athletic Bilbao a 1-0 win over fourth-place RC Celta de Vigo, while fifth-place RC Deportivo de La Coruna drew 0-0 against Getafe.
Malaga left Levante UD in last place with a 1-0 win, Sevilla downed RCD Espanyol 2-0, UD Las Palmas routed Granada 4-1, and Sociedad Deportiva Eibar defeated Real Sporting de Gijon 2-0.
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