Messi becomes Barca's

leading scorer
Sport
Monday 17 March 2014 - 7:46am

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (L) vies with Osasuna's

French defender Jordan Loties (R) during the Spanish league football
match FC Barcelona vs Osasuna. Picture: AFP / Lluis Gene

MADRID - Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi has

set his sights on beating Real Madrid next weekend after
leading Barcelona to a 7-0 thrashing of Osasuna on Sunday.
Messi overtook Paulino Alcantara to become Barca's all-time
leading scorer in all forms of football with his second goal of
the afternoon before completing his hat-trick to take his tally
for the club to 371.
Victory moved Barca back to within four points of Real Madrid
at the top of La Liga with both sides set to meet at the
Santiago Bernabeu next Sunday.
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And Messi is hoping that a win in the Spanish capital will put
his side right back in the La Liga title race.
"I hope we see a good version of Barcelona and we can get a
positive result, which we need to still be in there fighting for
La Liga just a point behind," he told Barca TV.
"We have a unique opportunity to cut the gap on Madrid. It
will be a very difficult game because we are playing away
from home and Real Madrid is a great team playing with a lot
of confidence. It will be difficult, but it all depends on us."
The Argentine's first hat-trick of 2014 means he has now
scored 12 times in his last nine games and he believes he is
slowly getting back to his best after missing the last two
months of 2013 due to a hamstring injury.
"I feel good, as I have said before, little by little I am getting
better after the injury. There were very difficult moments
because I had a run of injuries, but I am feeling good and
hopefully I can maintain this level until the end of the season."
Barca boss Gerardo Martino hailed his compatriot's display as
his side returned to winning ways in La Liga after a shock 1-0
defeat to Valladolid last weekend.
"There is nothing that needs to be said about Messi. He
continues to play games like this and break records."

However, despite such a resounding scoreline, Martino

insisted Barca's display hadn't affected his thinking over what
starting line-up to go with against Real Madrid.
"Today doesn't generate any doubts in my mind ahead of the
Bernabeu. The performance doesn't affect how I think we
should play there.
"I always have in mind what I think about the team
independent of the result and I have almost decided upon the
team for next week.
"To have a good performance ahead of the game at the
Bernabeu is positive, but we can't get carried away. It is not
easy to score seven goals, but we can't think we have gone
from a disaster to spectacular in the space of a week.
"This is a squad full of important figures and some have to be
left out. It is not easy to manage because they are all so good.
However, I can't get carried away by this game and it will not
affect my thinking too much."