What's the story?
Lionel Messi and records go hand in hand and these days when he achieves a new feat, it doesn't even sound surprising. Last night, the 29-year-old went into the record books when he scored in the 5-0 victory over Las Palmas.
He has now scored against 35 La Liga opponents and now shares the record with Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez.
The former Los Blancos captain complimented Messi on Twitter by saying, “A pleasure to enjoy your goals every day in La Liga.”
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FC Barcelona maintained the pressure on league leaders Real Madrid with a comfortable 5-0 win over Las Palmas. Messi's partner in crime, Luis Suarez scored a brace before the Argentine put the game out of reach for the opponents.
Also Read: La Liga 2016/17 - Barcelona 5-0 Las Palmas - 5 Talking Points
Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal also got on the scoresheet as well. Suarez scored his 17th goal of the season and helped his side to a second half blitzkrieg as the Catalans scored three goals in the first fifteen minutes of the second period.
The heart of the matter
It was Messi's chance, yesterday, to steal the limelight and earn all the plaudits from rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been in the news for the individual accolades that the Portuguese star has won. The Barcelona star’s goal last night made Las Palmas the 35th side to face his wrath in La Liga with Raul achieving the same feat in his heyday in the last decade.
Messi has now scored against all 19 teams in the 2016/17 La Liga campaign in his illustrious career. Xerez, Murcia and Cadiz are the only sides against whom the Argentine has not scored a league goal, with all these sides plying their trade in the lower Spanish divisions currently.
During his time with the European giants, Raul scored a massive 323 goals for Los Blancos but his tally has been surpassed by Ronaldo. Despite not being the club's top scorer, Raul still enjoys cult figure status at the Bernabeu and will always be an icon for the Madrid side.
What’s next?
It won't be long before Lionel Messi will break this record that he shared with the Real Madrid stalwart. The new record will be one of many records that he has achieved in his Barcelona career.
Sportskeeda's take
The 29-year-old is reminding us with his every performance, of late, about how lucky we are to see him play.
Also Read: Twitter reacts as Lionel Messi inspires Barcelona's 5-0 win
After scoring his first three goals of 2017 with three stunning free kicks, Messi scored an easy tap in goal against Las Palmas to give proof to people that he is still human.
