Barcelona get a comfortable win against Getafe with a brace and assist from Messi

With every game left in La Liga being taken as a final, winning is always vital for the La Liga race. Messi shook the crossbar early on and it hit the line, but a few minutes later he scored after making a run and shooting the top opposite angle. Lenglet scored an own goal to tie the scoreline 1-1, but Chakla then scored an own goal to give Barça the lead. Messi then made a good volley with his right foot which hit the post, then scored on the rebound. In the second half, Getafe got closer thanks to a penalty from Ünal, but a goal from Araújo assisted via corner by Messi and a penalty in the last minute from Griezmann (which Messi gifted him despite the fact he's in the Pichichi race and would've meant a hat-trick) sealed things up and gave Barça the 5-2 win.

Messi's stats were the following: 2 goals, 1 assist, 1 penalty gifted, 4 SoT, 2 woodworks, 7 shots in total, 0.59 xG, 2 dribbles out of 4, 1 key pass, 4 SCA, 0.5 xA, 7 duels won out of 10, 4 fouls received, 1 tackle, 3 ball recoveries, 4 successful pressures out of 9, 2 long balls, 1 cross, 47 passes and 73 touches, which was a 10/10 performance that won him the King of the Match. This was his performance on video:

Another 3 important points in the last competition left to play for. If Barcelona win every single La Liga game they have left, they will win the league, so Barça depend on themselves. Though of course it would be great if Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid dropped points to make the process easier.

There were also some fun facts about this game in terms of Messi's stats, which are:

• Messi is the first player in the history of the top5 leagues to scores 25+ goals in 12 seasons in a row.
• Getafe became the 12th team to concede 20+ goals from Messi.
• Araujo became the 51st Barça player to receive an assist from Messi.
• Araujo became the 16th Barça defender to receive an assist from Messi.
• Messi's 9 assists in La Liga this season went to 9 different teammates: Lenglet De Jong Trincao Dembélé Ilaix Alba Mingueza Dest Araujo
• It was the 150th game in Messi's career in which he scored AND assisted.
• For the first time in his career, Messi gave assists to 5 different defenders in a single Liga season: Lenglet Alba Dest Mingueza Araujo.
• Messi has given at least 9 assists in each of the last 14 Liga seasons.
• With his 2 goals and 1 assist, Messi has now been directly involved in 150+ goals against teams from the community of Madrid. 108 goals and 44 assists.
• For the first time in his career, Messi has scored 2+ goals in 7 of his first 15 Liga games of the calendar  year.
• The game was Messi's 100th Liga game against teams from the Community of Madrid. He's scored 85 goals and given 37 assists.

It also appears he gave his shirt to Chakla, the Getafe player who scored an own goal, after the end of the game. Hopefully Messi's great form continues in the following games so Barça can win the title. But until then, I'll see you in the next blog.