DBasia.news – Lionel Messi equaled Pele’s record when he scored a goal for Barcelona when the Blaugranas were held to a 2-2 draw by Valencia at the Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona, Spain, Saturday local time.
The course of the match
In the midst of the inconsistency of Barcelona’s performance, they fell behind in the 29th minute from Valencia. Mouctar Diakhaby gave Valencia the lead when his header broke into Barca’s goal guarded by Marc-Andre ter Stegen. 1-0 for Valencia.
Barcelona increased the tempo of play and ultimately equalized before halftime. Lionel Messi scored a goal 45 + 4 ‘after failing to score from a penalty.
Jaume Domenech saved Messi’s goal from a penalty and then a wild ball was taken by Jordi Alba who he passed to Messi. This time La Pulga did not spare him and changed the position to 1-1.
Messi’s equalizer was special because it was Barcelona’s 643th goal. According to Opta, the amount of goals has equalled to Pele’s record for one club (Santos) and Messi did it with Barcelona.
In the second half Barca reversed the advantage of Ronald Araujo’s goal in the 52nd minute. Araujo grabbed the ball from Antoine Griezmann’s cross which failed to be swept away by Valencia’s defense. Barcelona ahead 2-1.
However, Valencia responded in the 69th minute. Uruguay striker, Maxi Gomez showed his class by grabbing Denis Cheryshev’s low cross. Ter Stegen was unable to stop his kick. 2-2.
After that goal no more goals were created at the Camp Nou. Barcelona failed to secure three points and had to settle for one point with a 2-2 draw. Barca are still stuck at fifth place with 21 points.
The composition of Players:
Barcelona (4-1-4-1): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Sergino Dest, Oscar Mingueza, Ronald Araujo, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets; Antoine Griezmann, Pedri, Philippe Coutinho; Martin Braithwaite; Lionel Messi.
Substitute players: Carles Alena, Miralem Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Neto, Clement Lenglet, Trinaco, Matheus Fernandes, Frenkie de Jong, Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Konrad De la Fuente, Arnau Tenas.
Coach: Ronald Koeman
Valencia (4-4-2): Jaume Domenech; Daniel Wass, Gabriel Paulista, Mouctar Diakhaby, Jose Gaya; Yunus Musah, Carlos Soler, Uros Racic, Denis Cheryshev; Goncalo Guedes, Maxi Gomez.
Substitute players: Thierry Correira, Eliaquim Mangala, Ruben Sobrino, Lee Kang-In, Manu Vallejo, Jason, Cristian Rivero, Vicente Esquerdo, Koba Koindredi, Guillem Molina, Alex Blanco, Unai Etxebarria.
Coach: Javi Gracia