‎Messi, Suarez score in Barcelona win over Sevilla

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…Messi scores 500th Barcelona goal
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez ensured Barcelona did not lose any more ground on La Liga leaders Real Madrid by giving the catalonia club victory over Sevilla.

Suarez converted in the 61st minute from Lionel Messi’s pass for his 95th goal in 112 Barcelona games.

Vitolo gave Sevilla the lead when he slotted home in the 15th minute before Messi equalised from 18 yards.
Barcelona now have 25 points from 11 games, just two behind Real, with Sevilla back on 21 points.
Luis Enrique’s Spanish champions created numerous chances after the break as they started to open up their opponent’s defence.

Sevilla keeper Sergio Rico made two good saves to keep his side in the game. He kept out a stinging effort from Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic and then tipped over a shot from Messi, who had received the ball from Suarez’s sublime backheel volley.

Suarez also produced another brilliant piece of skill when he rounded keeper Rico and then rolled the ball across the six-yard area. The ball eluded Messi, who had failed to read his team-mate’s intentions.

Sevilla were overawed in the second half but did go close when former Blackburn player Steven Nzonzi headed narrowly wide of Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s left-hand upright.

‎Meanwhile, Lionel Messi scored his 500th Barcelona goal — encompassing official competitions and friendlies — as he masterminded his side’s comeback against Sevilla on Sunday.

At times playing deeper than usual in the absence of Andres Iniesta, Messi himself could have scored his side’s second before he eventually set up Luis Suarez to seal a 2-1 win.

Messi’s leveller was his 469th goal for the Blaugrana in official games, but the Catalan club have confirmed it’s his 500th when friendly games are included.

He’s already the leading scorer in the history of the Spanish top flight, a milestone he also achieved in a game against Sevilla.

A hat trick in a 5-1 win against the Andalusian side two years ago took him onto 253 goals, surpassing the record of 251 which had been held by Telmo Zarra.

In total, 320 of Messi’s Barcelona goals have come in La Liga and his tally for the season now stands at 16 in all competitions, despite missing several weeks with a groin problem.

Barca’s win over Sevilla sees them go into the international break in second place in the table, two points behind the leaders Real Madrid, who maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign with a 3-0 win over Leganes earlier on Sunday.

Luis Enrique’s side welcome Malaga to Camp Nou on Nov. 19, with a trip to Real Sociedad then followed by the visit of Madrid for the first Clasico of the season on Dec. 3.

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