LEVANTE-FCB (1-2)

Messi: "It was a very difficult ground to play in, but we managed to get a fantastic result"

The Argentine striker, who scored a brace in Barça’s win over Levante, is now focusing on the Champions League semifinal against Chelsea

Lionel Messi refused to be drawn into a debate about his goal-scoring contest with Cristiano Ronaldo as he appealed to his teammates to maintain their good form in La Liga

Vital victory at the Ciutat de València (1-2) which allows Barça to maintain the four-point gap with Real Madrid at the top of the table. After the match, Lionel Messi, with two goals, said he was very happy to win the three points against this season’s surprise team. “We knew it was a difficult ground, Levante are having a fantastic season and we managed to get a great result,” said Messi while walking off the pitch.

However, the Argentine highlighted the difficulty of taking on Juan Ignacio Martínez’s side: “at this point in the season every team is playing for something important. These matches are very complicated.”

On form and headed to London 

After securing Barça’s 11th consecutive victory in La Liga, Messi congratulated his teammates for keeping the winning streak alive. “We have to continue like this,” said the Argentine, “now it’s time to think about Chelsea, this is the most important match. It will be more difficult than the match against Levante.”

La Liga goal-scoring rivalry 

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have made history in La Liga as they are both level on top of the goal scoring chart. Both players, with 41 goals apiece, have shattered the previous record in their struggle to win the Pichichi award. Despite the ongoing duel, Messi highlighted the importance of the team’s success ahead of his own: “things are going well for us, but what’s really important is that we’re both fighting for La Liga title.

“I’m happy that I scored because the team won,” concluded Messi as he walked down the tunnel that leads to the dressing rooms.

Here are the statements made by FC Barcelona players after tonight’s match against Levante:

Víctor Valdés:

“Very hard-fought victory. I’m proud of the work that we did. I congratulate Levante for how they played, they are a very good team.”

Pedro Rodríguez:

“It was a very difficult match, we knew that it was a complicated ground to play in. They had the early advantage but we managed to fight back.

“We dominated the whole match. After the penalty against us it was more difficult because they closed themselves off and their defence is very strong. For this reason it was so difficult to mount a comeback, but our insistence to play on the wings allowed the team to fight back. We’re very pleased.

“We’re facing a very difficult week. We’ll work hard and prepare for our upcoming matches.

“It was hard to reduce the gap with Real Madrid. We’ll try to prepare for next Saturday's match well to keep our title hopes alive in La Liga. The Clásico is important to both us and them.”

Cesc Fàbregas:

“It’s clear that we can improve. It was a very difficult match but we managed it well.

“We’ve gained a lot of ground on Madrid. We went to the Vicente Calderón with a 13-point disadvantage and now were only 4 away. Despite it all, now it’s time to focus on Chelsea and forget about La Liga for a couple of days.

“This was one of our most difficult away matches, but we still have a few tough matches away from home. La Liga is still out of our hands. We won’t depend on ourselves even if we beat Real Madrid. There are a few matches left but the end of La Liga is still a long way off.

“Barça have a great fighting spirit, we’re very competitive.”

Thiago Alcántara:

“We stopped thinking about the Liga in the second half. We gave it our all and we can now enjoy one of our most difficult victories.

“This is a very complicated stadium to play in, Levante are a fantastic team.

“I’m willing to play in any position. The objective is to always look for the win.

“The Club’s philosophy is incredible. It’s a joy for us youngsters, we have to be thankful to the Club for giving us confidence.

“Chelsea is a very complicated rival, they’re a historic European club. It will be a beautiful playoff.”

Isaac Cuenca:

“It was fairly difficult, but we knew that what we were facing when we went up against Levante. It was complicated because they let us have the wings but it was hard to get good crosses in. In the end everything worked out and we won the three points.

“I believe it was a penalty, I was pushed and the linesman saw it and the referee called it.

“We’re going to give it our all in London to get a good result for the return leg at the Camp Nou.”

Messi, 201 goals with Guardiola

Leo Messi has scored 201 goals for FC Barcelona since Guardiola took charge of the Barça bench. The player, with a spectacular average of 0.96 goals per game, has only needed 210 official matches to reach this goal-scoring mark

Leo Messi’s name tends to be on people’s lips before and after FC Barcelona play a match. Today is no exception. The Argentine genius has scored 201 goals with Josep Guardiola on the Barça bench. It took Messi only 4 seasons to accomplish this feat (210 official matches). Since Guardiola decided to position Messi closer to the opposition’s goal, the Argentine has turned into a veritable goal-scoring machine, averaging 0.96 goals per game. With Rijkaard, under whom Messi made his debut on October 16 2004 against Espanyol, the striker scored 42 goals in 110 official matches (0.38 goals per game).

Constant progress 

The best player in the world has consistently improved year after year. In his first season with Guardiola, 2008/09, he scored 38 goals in 51 official matches. In 2009/10, he scored 47 in 53 matches. Last season he scored 53 goals in 55 official matches. This year he already has 63 goals in 51 matches, averaging 1.2 goals per game. So far this season, he’s scored 41 goals in the Liga, 14 in the Champions League, 2 in the Cup, 3 in the Spanish Super Cup, 1 in the European Super Cup and 2 in the Club World Cup.

With 63 goals already scored this season, Messi is a strong contender for a slew of new records: he is in the running to claim his second Pichichi title in the Liga, he could finish the season as the highest goal scorer in the Champions League for the fourth consecutive season, he is close to winning his second European Golden Shoe (formerly known as Golden Boot) award and he’s only 5 goals back from Gerd Müller’s historic record of 67 scored goals in one season.

His 201 goals

Season 2008/09
38 goals in 51 matches

Season 2009/10
47 goals in 53 matches

Season 2010/11
53 goals in 55 matches

Season 2011/12
63 goals in 51 matches

Iniesta closing in on 400

Barça’s Spanish midfielder is just one game short of the 400 mark and he could make that with the game against Levante or Chelsea

Already amongst the top ten players with most appearances for the Club

Andrés Iniesta will pretty soon play his 400th official game for Barça - most probably away to Levante on Saturday or at Stamford Bridge next week – as he now stands at 399 appearances for the Club. What a way to mark 400 it would be if he did it the Chelsea ground – where he scored perhaps the most famous of his 40 goals for the team.

His 399 appearances have come in the following competitions: 266 in La Lliga, 77 in the Champions League, 40 in the Spanish Cup, 3 in the UEFA Cup, 2 in the European Super Cup, 6 in the Spanish Super Cup and 5 in the World Club Cup.

Catching up on Alexanco

The 27 year-old has just broken into the Club’s all time top ten and should become the eighth player with most appearances for the Club this season, as he is just one short of José Ramón Alexanco and three behind Joan Segarra, who lie ninth and eight respectively.

Iniesta is one of four current first team players in the Club’s top ten, alongside Xavi (who has played more than anybody with 621), Puyol (second on 552) and Valdés (fourth on 452).

World class talent

Andrés Iniesta came to La Masia in 1996 when he was still only 12 years old. He made a quick rise through the various youth teams and made his first team debut under Louis van Gaal in October 2002. He came to greater prominence under Frank Rijkaard, where he showed his versatility in helping the team to two Leagues and a Champions League title.

With the arrival of Pep Guardiola Iniesta confirmed his place as a leader of the team and a first choice in one of the Club’s best ever sides. In the 2010 World Cup Final he also showed his worth to Spain, scoring the goal that gave them the trophy in the final against Holland. He’s recognised for his talent, class, reading of the game and ability to beat a man as one of the very best players in the world and it is only some unfortunate injuries that have ever dented his consistently high performances.

Alexis and Pedro, back to goal-scoring form

Yesterday was the first time this season that both Alexis and Pedro scored in the same match

Alexis Sánchez hadn’t scored since February, when he netted twice away to Bayer Leverkusen

Good news for FC Barcelona. Two of the team’s strikers, Alexis Sánchez and Pedro Rodríguez, are back in the business of scoring goals as Barça gets ready to face the most decisive stretch of the season. Yesterday, against Getafe, was the first time this season that both players netted for FC Barcelona in the same game.

Pedro: on form one year later

In Pedro’s case, it’s been a while since the Spaniard scored in two consecutive matches. In fact, it’s been more than a year. The last time Barça’s striker managed to score in back-to-back games was against Racing (Liga), Almería (Cup) and Hércules (Liga), in February 2011. With the goal against Zaragoza and the yesterday’s goal against Getafe, the striker has shown that he’s back on form. His goal-scoring tally this season currently sits at nine with at least nine matches still to be played.

Pedro’s goals have been decisive for FC Barcelona. It was the Spaniard that opened up the scoring in the Champions League final in Wembley, he forced overtime in the Club World Cup in 2009, and he secured passage for Barça to the semifinals of the King’s Cup in the quarterfinal return leg against Real Madrid.



Alexis: third brace of the season 

Alexis has also recovered his goal-scoring form. Before yesterday’s match, the Chilean hadn’t scored in almost two months - since the Bayer Leverkusen-Barça game (1-3), where he scored twice. In fact, Alexis has managed to score three braces this season, his first was against Rayo Vallecano (4-0) at the Camp Nou.

The Chilean has scored 13 goals this season; 8 at the Camp Nou and 5 away from home. Of these 13 goals, 5 of them were go-ahead goals.

Llevant - FC Barcelona: Confidence boosting fightback (1-2)

Two goals from Leo Messi in reply to an early opener from Barkero gave Barça the win against Levante to keep them just four points behind the leaders Madrid

The title race is still on as Barça chalked up yet another win to stay in touch with Real Madrid, who had earlier beaten Sporting 3-1, but it was hard work for Guardiola’s men, who had to come back from one down after Barkero had scored a first half penalty to give the hosts the lead. Barça were unable to pull level until the hour mark, when Messi took over, firing n a left footed drive from the edge of the box and then hammering home a brilliant penalty after Cuenca had been bundled over in the box.

Attention now switches to Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, with the big one against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou next weekend on the horizon.

Early control

Barça began the game seven points adrift at the top, but they showed no nerves as they set about overcoming fifth placed Levante. With Alexis and Pedro both playing wide, there might not have been a natural target man up front, but Guardiola’s team were soon carving out chances, as both Pedro and Messi tested Munúa and Thiago had a couple of good headed chances. The visitors were in charge, but Levante’s massed defence was always going to limit the clear chances on offer.

Barkero penalty

Levante were always going to be a danger on the break though and when once such speedy break resulted in a corner, the ref blew for a penalty after Busquets handled in the box and Barkero strode up to fire past Valdes and give his team the lead. In truth, Barça then found it hard to settle into their rhythm and looked a little slow as they tried to find their way through Levante’s defence for the equaliser and found it hard to create too many chances before the break.

Messi leads the fightback

At the start of the second half, Guardiola brought on Cuenca for Xavi and soon after replaced Pedro with Iniesta as he looked to dominate in the middle and open up the flanks, particularly through Cuenca, who started the move that ended in Messi’s equaliser on the hour mark. The Argentinean played a quick one-two on the edge of the box and curled in a great shot to set up an exciting last half hour.

Messi seals the win

Cuenca was also key to the winning goal when he was bundled over by Bothelo as he ran on to a clever return pass from Cesc. Despite the home players’ protestations, the ref pointed to the spot and Messi hammered the penalty home high to the keeper’s left for the winner. There was no way that Barça were going to let such a hard won lead slip and they controlled the game as the clock ran down to take the three point.