AP, Madrid :
Lionel Messi closed the year with a total of 50 goals for club and country for the sixth straight time, helping Barcelona stay in position to keep the Spanish league lead entering the holiday break.
Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Arturo Vidal also scored as Barcelona comfortably defeated Alaves 4-1 on Saturday to open a three-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, which hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Barcelona holds a five-goal advantage over Madrid in the tiebreaker between the teams.
Barcelona and Madrid drew 0-0 in the first “clásico” of the season on Wednesday in a game postponed from October because of a separatist rally in the Catalan capital.
“We played only a few days ago, we were a bit tired, but we played a good match,” Griezmann said. “Now we get some deserved time off. We will try to get better when we come back. We can still improve.”
This is the last round before the break, with the league resuming in the first week of January.
It was the ninth year Messi finished with at least 50 goals overall for club and country – 45 of them in 2019 for Barcelona, five for Argentina. He reached the mark every year since 2010, with the exception of 2013 when he had 45. Messi’s highest mark was 91 goals in total in 2012.
“He gives us a great advantage,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. “Leo can suddenly show up and score out of nowhere like that.”
Messi’s 50th goal came with a beautiful strike from outside the area in the 69th minute after a setup by Suárez.
The goal allowed Messi to surpass Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema as the league’s top scorer with 13 goals, one more than the Frenchman. Suárez is next with 10 goals. Griezmann has seven, including three in his last four league games.
Suárez had a role in all four goals at the Camp Nou Stadium, scoring his own from a penalty kick in the 75th.
The Uruguay striker had also set up Griezmann’s opener in the 14th and Vidal’s goal in the 45th.
Alavés, winless in four consecutive league matches, scored with a header by Pere Pons in the 56th. The visitors had a couple of good chances before Messi’s strike dampened their chances of a comeback.
“We knew it was difficult to earn points here,” Pons said. “At one point we controlled possession and created some good chances, but in the end we were playing against Barça and against Messi, it’s complicated.”
Barcelona had two goals disallowed for offside, one by Messi in the first half and another by Griezmann in the second.
Alavés has won only one of its nine away games in the league this season. It is 15th in the standings, five points from safety.
Barcelona extended its unbeaten streak in all competitions to 10 matches. It was coming off two consecutive league draws – 2-2 against Real Sociedad and 0-0 against Madrid. It had won nine of its 10 league games before that.
Barcelona has won six straight league matches against Alavés, averaging more than three goals a game.
The crowd of 63,054 was the second lowest at the Camp Nou this season, with 58,198 at the league game against Valladolid in October.
Lionel Messi closed the year with a total of 50 goals for club and country for the sixth straight time, helping Barcelona stay in position to keep the Spanish league lead entering the holiday break.
Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Arturo Vidal also scored as Barcelona comfortably defeated Alaves 4-1 on Saturday to open a three-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, which hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
Barcelona holds a five-goal advantage over Madrid in the tiebreaker between the teams.
Barcelona and Madrid drew 0-0 in the first “clásico” of the season on Wednesday in a game postponed from October because of a separatist rally in the Catalan capital.
“We played only a few days ago, we were a bit tired, but we played a good match,” Griezmann said. “Now we get some deserved time off. We will try to get better when we come back. We can still improve.”
This is the last round before the break, with the league resuming in the first week of January.
It was the ninth year Messi finished with at least 50 goals overall for club and country – 45 of them in 2019 for Barcelona, five for Argentina. He reached the mark every year since 2010, with the exception of 2013 when he had 45. Messi’s highest mark was 91 goals in total in 2012.
“He gives us a great advantage,” Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said. “Leo can suddenly show up and score out of nowhere like that.”
Messi’s 50th goal came with a beautiful strike from outside the area in the 69th minute after a setup by Suárez.
The goal allowed Messi to surpass Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema as the league’s top scorer with 13 goals, one more than the Frenchman. Suárez is next with 10 goals. Griezmann has seven, including three in his last four league games.
Suárez had a role in all four goals at the Camp Nou Stadium, scoring his own from a penalty kick in the 75th.
The Uruguay striker had also set up Griezmann’s opener in the 14th and Vidal’s goal in the 45th.
Alavés, winless in four consecutive league matches, scored with a header by Pere Pons in the 56th. The visitors had a couple of good chances before Messi’s strike dampened their chances of a comeback.
“We knew it was difficult to earn points here,” Pons said. “At one point we controlled possession and created some good chances, but in the end we were playing against Barça and against Messi, it’s complicated.”
Barcelona had two goals disallowed for offside, one by Messi in the first half and another by Griezmann in the second.
Alavés has won only one of its nine away games in the league this season. It is 15th in the standings, five points from safety.
Barcelona extended its unbeaten streak in all competitions to 10 matches. It was coming off two consecutive league draws – 2-2 against Real Sociedad and 0-0 against Madrid. It had won nine of its 10 league games before that.
Barcelona has won six straight league matches against Alavés, averaging more than three goals a game.
The crowd of 63,054 was the second lowest at the Camp Nou this season, with 58,198 at the league game against Valladolid in October.
