Messi surpasses Pele and leads Barca to victory at Valladolid
Barcelona fired up the style to thrash Real Valladolid 3-0 away in La Liga on Tuesday as Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal to surpass Pele as the all-time record scorer for an individual club.
Messi also finally got his first assist of the growing season when he picked out defender Clement Lenglet with an outstanding cross and the Frenchman rose to head Barca in the front after 21 minutes.
The Argentine also had a submit the visitors' second goal, laying on a pass for back Sergino Dest to latch to down the proper flank and play a cross in to the path of Martin Braithwaite, who slid directly into score in the 35th minute.
Messi capped an excellent individual display with an outstanding goal midway through the second half, running in behind to meet a pass from teenager Pedri and slotting into the far bottom corner to eclipse Pele's long-standing scoring mark for Santos.
It was also a superb team display from Ronald Koeman's side, who taken care of immediately Saturday's disappointing 2-2 home draw against Valencia by earning their first away league win since beating Celta Vigo on Oct. 1.
Barca remain fifth in the standings, moving on to 24 points after 14 games. Atletico Madrid are top with 32 points from 13 games after a 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Tuesday.
"Today was a very complete performance. We had a need to earn this game and we do that while demonstrating some real quality," said Barca scorer Lenglet.
"Today our tactics worked well and we're happy. Our full backs could actually play high up the pitch and it was a constant performance overall, while we didn't allow our opponents have way too many chances." Messi, who remarked earlier this week that he sometimes struggled to receive motivated for games in the lack of fans, seemed up for the match from the first whistle.
The 33-year-old practically gave Barca an early lead when he rattled a go towards the very best corner and then be thwarted by a save from keeper Jordi Masip.
He dictated Barca's play through the entire game with some brilliant passing and movement, while he almost scored another goal found in added time when he raced through over goal but fired against the post from a good angle.
