FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.01.2010 13:14

Messi: “It was a relief to get the goal”

Sandra Sarmiento

Leo Messi’s two goals against Seville on Saturday night made it 101 since his debut with the first team. Finally, the World Player of the Year was able to beat the Seville keeper Palop: “he certainly spoilt things for me in the Cup”.

In the second half of their third game against Seville in less than a fortnight, Barca bagged all the goals that were denied them on Wednesday and stretched their lead at the top of La Liga to five points over Madrid. The star of the show on Saturday night was undoubtedly Leo Messi whose two goals took him past 100 with the first team, the youngest ever player to achieve that for Barca. Speaking to the Barca TV programme “El Marcador”, the young Argentinean said: “I’m happy – especially with the result – we came into the game off a tough elimination and we knew we had to lift ourselves, which we did so spectacularly”.

Palop

Palop had become a nightmare with his brilliant saves in Seville and indeed in the first half on Saturday and Messi revealed: “well, I didn’t lose any sleep over him, but he did spoil the party for me a bit in Seville. He won in Seville, because he managed to get the better of me in a number of one-on-ones, as he also did on Saturday. It was a real relief to get the goal. I wasn’t so much obsessed by getting the hundredth goal as much as with beating Palop since I couldn’t score against him in the Cup”.

History maker

Messi is a different kind of footballer and he wasn’t going to sit back once he’d hit a hundred as he showed with his second of the night, a lovely goal after a great pass from Abidal. Messi has made history and he reflected on it by commenting: “I’d stick with the goals that have been the most important –those I got in the finals, rather than the pretty ones. It’s scoring in the big games that really thrills me.” Messi is keeping his feet on the ground despite all the success he’s enjoyed, claiming: “the truth is that with all the big things that have happened to me, well I’m not giving them too much importance. I just try and live quietly and normally and keep my eye on achieving more”.

Winter Champs

Reflecting on the five point lead the team have at the top, Messi reckoned: “it’s an important lead, but there is still a lot of league to go. There’s the whole of the second half of the season to play and I’m sure Madrid will be in there. We have nothing to prove to anybody not even to ourselves, we have the same attitude we had last year, we want to win things – that’s what we are demonstrating”.

Cup defeat

The defeat to Seville in the cup was certainly a blow for the team and Messi explained: “I was hurt by it. We hadn’t expected to be knocked out and it was particularly hard to lose how we did. We were so superior in the second half and we had so many clear cut chances- It was tough because we hadn’t seen it coming, we were convinced we would turn the tie around and get through”.