Barcelona icon Lionel Messi added his call-up this afternoon to the history books of world football after locating Valencia’s rival.
Ronald Koeman is lately locked up in League action with Los Che at Camp Nou.
The Blaugrana, of course, entered the process, aware that they might not lose points, as they were well below the speed of the race by the name of the Spanish elite.
However, as things are in Catalonia, Barca is about to drop Atletico Madrid even further.
Valencia took the lead after 30 minutes when Mouctar Diakhaby had too much area to head to a corner from the right:
A defensive nightmare for Barcelona pic. twitter. com/x7aIQRfh5k
– Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) December 19, 2020
The hosts, however, discovered his back as the first half progressed, before moving on to star player Lionel Messi.
After José Gaya tried to shoot Antoine Griezmann in the Valencia area, Messi took over the resulting kick.
The Argentine saw his initial effort held brilliantly through Jaume Domenech, only for an upcoming fight to see the ball back to the back post, where Messi was available to bravely nod to point-blank range:
Barca gets a very debatable penalty, Messi then sees his saved kick, but manages to pitch while the rebound helps keep the game alive pic. twitter. com/cQRLNYiSkm
– Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) December 19, 2020
However, as mentioned above, the new arrival of Barca’s captain is much more than just a draw in a La Liga clash.
This also saw Messi record his call later in the history books.
The veteran striker’s head scored his 643rd goal in a competitive match for Barcelona.
That is precisely the same number that Brazilian legend Pelé controlled for Santos, leaving Messi with a single Blaugrana purpose to identify himself as the club’s most sensitive goalscorer in the history of the match:
@damiendraws pic. twitter. com/dNrlmwdfC7
– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 19, 2020
Update: since then, Barcelona has taken the lead against Valencia, Ronald Araujo.