Messi got two goals as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 at the Santiago Barnebeu.<\/p>\n
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique revelled in turning the tables on bitter rivals Real Madrid as Lionel Messi struck deep into stoppage time to edge a thrilling El Clasico 3-2 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Messi\u2019s second goal of the night was his 500th for Barcelona and took the Catalans to the top of La Liga.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the best player for me in history and I have seen a lot of football,\u201d said Enrique. \u201cIn modern football when everyone is tactically and physically better he still makes the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact he has scored his 500th goal shows all of us as Barca fans are lucky to have him identified with the club.\u201d The timing of Messi\u2019s strike also saw Barca gain revenge for Sergio Ramos\u2019s stoppage time equaliser in a 1-1 draw when the sides last met back in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is marvellous for us to win in the 92nd minute. It is something that is normally more a characteristic of our rivals, but we like to do it too,\u201d added Enrique. Barca lead at the top of the table thanks to their better head-to-head record. Madrid, though, still have the advantage as they have a game in hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo score in the 92nd minute is a huge confidence boost,\u201d said Enrique, who will leave the club at the end of the season. However, he and Barca captain Andres Iniesta called on Messi, whose contract expires at the end of next season, not to follow him in leaving the Camp Nou.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarca is an incredible club with many years of history, but without doubt an important part of that history is Leo Messi,\u201d Enrique said. \u2013 \u2018A blessing\u2019 \u2013 \u201cI think the great thing about Leo is that he continues to surprise,\u201d said Iniesta.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter so many years he is still decisive. It is an honour and a blessing for the club to have him.\u201d By contrast, Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane was left to lament his side\u2019s over adventurous nature after conceding in stoppage time after being reduced to 10 men.<\/p>\n
Messi had cancelled out Casemiro\u2019s opener before half-time. But Barca looked well on the road to victory when Ivan Rakitic\u2019s stunning effort put the visitors 2-1 in front before Madrid captain Sergio Ramos was sent off for a wild lunge on Messi.<\/p>\n
However, Madrid rallied when a man down as substitute James Rodriguez fired home an equaliser four minutes from time. \u201cDrawing the game with 10 men, to press high up the field is dangerous and we paid for that,\u201d said Zidane. \u201cI can\u2019t criticise the players for anything though. We gave our all, but we didn\u2019t manage to get the three points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t deserve to lose, but that is football.\u201d Madrid now need to take at least 16 points from their final six La Liga games to be guaranteed the title. \u201cThere will be much more of a title race, but it is still in our own hands,\u201d added<\/p>\n
Zidane. Madrid were also dealt a fresh injury blow for the remainder of their league season and upcoming Champions League semi-finals against Atletico Madrid as Gareth Bale faces another spell on the sidelines. The Welshman lasted just 38 minutes on his return after missing Madrid\u2019s last two outings with persistent ankle problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t regret anything,\u201d said Zidane over his decision to start Bale. \u201cI am disappointed for him. He started the game well and then the injuries we can\u2019t control. \u201cWe will see what exactly the injury is and hope it is as little as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Messi got two goals as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-2 at the Santiago Barnebeu. Barcelona coach Luis Enrique revelled in turning the tables on bitter rivals Real Madrid as Lionel Messi struck deep into stoppage time to edge a thrilling El Clasico 3-2 on Sunday. Messi\u2019s second goal of the night was his 500th for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[57,56,60,55,54,58,59],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-barcelonal","tag-best-ever","tag-camp-nou","tag-el-classico","tag-messi","tag-real-madrid","tag-zinedin-zidane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/68"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}