The
Argentine scored an injury-time winner as his brace at the Santiago
Bernabeu earned his side a 3-2 success over Real Madrid.
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi scored his 500th goal for Barcelona in all competitions by netting a dramatic late winner in El Clasico.
The Argentina international had gone into Sunday's clash against
Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on 498 goals after his double in
last weekend's Liga win over Real Sociedad.
He drew a blank against Juventus in the Champions League in
midweek, but he reached another landmark figure in a career littered
with records when he scored twice in Madrid to send Barcelona top of the
table after a 3-2 victory.
Messi scored his 499th goal for Barcelona with a superb individual
effort on 33 minutes to cancel out Casemiro's opener for Madrid, with
that effort making him the leading scorer in El Clasico in La Liga,
surpassing Alfredo Di Stefano.
Ivan Rakitic's brilliant strike fired Barca in front on 73 minutes,
but Madrid, who had Sergio Ramos sent off for a wild lunge on Messi,
looked to have claimed a point when substitute James Rodriguez equalised
with five minutes to go.
However, in the second minute of added time, Jordi Alba's low pass
into the penalty area picked out Messi and he guided his shot beyond
Keylor Navas to earn Barcelona the points.
Messi has spent his entire professional career at Barca, joining
the Catalan club from Newell's Old Boys in 2001 when he was still only
14.
The teenage prodigy broke into the senior squad just three years
later, making his Liga debut in October 2004, against Espanyol. "It
seemed as if he had been playing with us all his life," enthused
Barcelona's then assistant coach Henk Ten Cate.
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