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Lionel Messi equaled Pelé’s record of 643 goals for a single club after scoring for Barcelona in a 2-2 draw with Valencia on Saturday.
The Argentine forward scored a great goal with a diving header just before half-time, moments after missing a penalty, to disallow Mouctar Diakhaby’s first goal in the 29th minute.
Then Barcelona went ahead thanks to Ronald Araujo, but Maxi Gómez gave Valencia a point.
Messi came close with several late efforts, but Ronald Koeman’s team couldn’t find a winner and their star player had to settle for equalizing rather than surpassing Santos de Pelé’s mark for now.
Barcelona languishes fifth in the top flight table, but could still be overtaken by sixth-ranked Sevilla, who have two games ahead of the Catalan giants.
Diakhaby took advantage of Barcelona’s terrible defense to head in a corner that put Valencia in an early advantage.
The hosts were unable to return to competition during a frustrating first half, only to have a golden opportunity to equalize with a penalty.
Messi missing the penalty was the last thing on his mind, especially with Pele’s record in his sights.
But although the Argentine stalwart softened his lines, he was still able to hold out on that blow, quickly converting Jordi Alba’s deflected center as the ball stayed alive after his failed shot.
Barcelona thought they were on their way to victory when Araujo’s stunts took a 2-1 lead with just over half an hour to play.
But then Gomez appeared to seal the tie, piling up even more misery at Barcelona and Koeman, and dimming the shine of Messi’s last historic day.
Suárez in Atlético’s double
On the other hand, former Barcelona striker Luis Suárez was again among the goals to help Atlético de Madrid beat Elche 3-1.
The victory took Atleti to 29 points in 12 games, three ahead of Real Sociedad and Real Madrid, second classified.
Uruguayan striker Suárez, who was recently on the sidelines after contracting coronavirus, gave Atlético the lead in the 41st minute when he received the slightest touch on a low center from Kieran Trippier to score for the first time since early November.
Suárez then slid in to hit another on a delicious low pass from Yannick Carrasco in the 58th minute for his ninth goal of the season, which took him to the top of the scorers’ table alongside Celta Vigo’s Iago Aspas and Mikel. Oyarzabal of the Royal Society.
Elche returned to the game with a header from Lucas Boye in the 64th minute after a well-worked corner routine, becoming the first team to score against Atlético at the Wanda Metropolitano since the first game of the season.
Boye almost found the equalizer when he turned to shoot inside the area, but Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak crossed to tip the ball over the near post.
However, the hosts soon sealed the points when substitute Diego Costa went to the ground to earn a debatable penalty and then whipped home from the spot in the 80th minute.
Elche forward Nino, 40, came off the bench to try to help his team get something out of the game and almost scored, but saw his header cleared off the line.
Real society were beaten for the second consecutive game by I raised, falling 2-1 to the last winner Jorge de Frutos.
Alexander Isak put the Donostiarras ahead in the middle of the first half, but Roger Martí tied just before half an hour.
De Frutos’ latest win lifted Levante to 14th place and knocked it out of the relegation zone thanks to a second win in three games.
Villarreal cemented fourth place with a comfortable 3-1 win at the bottom Osasuna, which ended with 10 men.
Gerard Moreno put the visitors ahead in the seventh minute, before Fernando Nino doubled the lead in the half hour, at which point Aridane Umpierrez had already been sent off by Osasuna.
Roberto Torres reduced the delays from the penalty spot with 20 minutes remaining, but when they pressed for the tie, Moreno scored again with four minutes remaining.
Bundesliga: Bayern win
Robert Lewandowski last minute winner lifted Bayern Munich Bundesliga leader with a 2-1 victory over previous leaders Bayer Leverkusen.
Patrick Schick put the hosts ahead by a quarter of an hour with a superb corner volley, but two errors by defender Jonathan Tah cost his team.
He first jumped on goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky to tap Lewandowski moments before half-time, and his strong touch in the 94th minute allowed the forward to shoot a game-winning goal in the final minute.
RB Leipzig slowed down with a surprising stalemate at home against Suburb, despite registering 19 shots.
The hosts enjoyed 64 percent of possession and only gave up one shot on goal, but couldn’t find their way through a defense that had conceded 21 goals in their previous 12 games this season.
Werder Bremen scored in the last minute through Eren Dinkci’s goal to give them a 1-0 win in Mainz and lift them up to 12.
From Schalke the woes continued with a 1-0 home loss to the third floor Arminia Bielefeld leaving the hosts within six points of their visitors.
Fabian Klos’ goal seven minutes after the break was enough to give Arminia their third win of the season, and leave Schalke still looking for their first win after 13 attempts.
Eintracht Frankfurt won 2-0 in Augsburg thanks to an own goal from Raphael Framberger and a late second Stefan Ilsanker.
Serie A: Juve one point off the top after a great victory
Juventus moved to a league leading point with a 4-0 win by Parma, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a goal in each half.
Dejan Kulusevski put the visitors ahead midway through the first half against his former club, before Ronaldo doubled the lead three minutes later when he headed a cross from Álvaro Morata.
Within three minutes of the second period, Ronaldo doubled his tally thanks to Aaron Ramsey’s pass to the area before Morata added a fourth quarter.
A couple of penalties dropped Verona off the beat of Europe with a penalty shot from Dusan Vlahovic that disallowed Miguel Veloso’s early goal from 12 yards in a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina.
Verona, which has won just one of its last four games, is now three points behind last in the Europa League and is seventh.
Sampdoria heaped misery on the underside Crotone with a 3-1 win to rise to the top half.
Mikkel Damsgaard put the home side ahead before Jakub Jankto doubled his lead nine minutes before half-time, but Crotone gave himself a lifeline when Simeon Nwankwo scored from the penalty spot in added time.
Veteran forward Fabio Quagliarella restored the hosts’ two-goal lead shortly after the hour, to leave Sampdoria tenth.
Ligue 1: Lyon hammer Nice to go up
Lyon produced a shot of four goals to thrash nice 4-1 and rise to the top of Ligue 1.
Goals from Memphis Depay and Tino Kadewere put the visitors in firm control before Amine Gouiri recovered a goal with Nice’s only shot just before half-time.
Karl Toko Ekambi put Lyon within three goals in the hour before Houssem Aouar added his fourth to beat Lille and PSG.
Marseilles He lost the opportunity to stay two points behind the leaders, drawing 1-1 at home for humble Reims.
At 20 minutes they were behind Yuto Nagatomo’s own goal, but tied just before half-time when Florian Thauvin shot home, and remain fourth.
Metz moved to the upper half thanks to a 2-0 win over Lens, who are now just one point ahead of their hosts.
Opa Nguette put Metz ahead after half an hour, before Farid Boulaya sealed three points in the fourth minute of second-half injury time.
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