By David Awopetu
Lionel Messi scored the 700th goal of his career with a Panenka penalty in Barcelona’s 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Tuesday.
The Spanish giants’ all-time top scorer hit the landmark goal for club and country by gently chipping the ball into the net as Jan Oblak dived the wrong way.
The Catalans desperately needed to win after twice throwing away the lead to draw 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday, but history repeated itself as Setien’s side failed to sparkle against a determined Atletico who are unbeaten since the season resumed.
The two sides traded goals inside the opening 20 minutes with a Messi corner kick finding its way into the back of the net off the leg of Diego Costa for an own goal.
Minutes later, Saul Niguez levelled from the penalty spot after Marc-Andre ter Stegen was adjudged to have left his line early by VAR on his initial save from Costa’s effort.
Messi’s 700th finally came early in the second half when the Argentine beat Oblak from the penalty spot with a cheeky chip to give his team a 2-1 lead and become just the seventh player in football to reach that mark.
Both teams pushed for the winner, but none came, meaning Barcelona could be as many as four points out of first after Real’s match on Thursday. Atletico Madrid is in third place, two points ahead of Sevilla, who beat Leganes earlier in the day.
majority of Messi goals have come from his left foot – 582 of them – with 92 coming from his right.
Not the biggest of players, nor one who has operated in a side reliant on crosses into the box, only 24 of his 700 goals have come from a header.
Clinical from a dead ball, Messi has also scored 52 direct free-kicks and 90 penalties.
Most come from efforts inside the box (580), with 120 from outside the penalty area.
