The historic win provisionally lifted Barcelona 10 points
clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table ahead of its fierce rival's match
against Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Messi decided the contest with two goals before the
half-hour mark and added a third in the second half.
Barcelona's streak surpassed the 15 wins by Alfredo Di
Stefano's Real Madrid 50 years ago.
“It is an honor for this team to have surpassed a record
that had stood for so long,” Messi said.
Pep Guardiola's team has outscored its opponents 60-6 during
the winning run that is the 10th longest in European history.
Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores left striker
Diego Forlan out of the starting 11 and reinforced his midfield with former
Barcelona youth academy product Fran Merida. But the move did not pay off, as
Barcelona controlled the ball from the opening whistle.
Atletico resisted until Messi broke through for the two-time
defending champions in the 17th.
Messi cut back from the right flank across the edge of the
area, leaving behind three defenders before firing a left-footer into the right
corner of David De Gea's goal.
Messi's second goal was product of a great team buildup.
After Antonio Lopez touched it but could not clear, Pedro
Rodriguez linked up with David Villa, who slipped the ball between two
defenders for Messi to punch in.
“We would not be who we are without Messi on our team,” said
Guardiola. “To be a great team you need to have a standout player. We have won
16 games because we have Messi.” With Forlan coming on after the restart,
Atletico had a good beginning to the second half and Barcelona center back Gerard
Pique saved a strike by Filipe Luis on the goal line in the 53rd.
De Gea swatted a Messi header over the crossbar in the 73rd,
but six minutes later Messi pounced to tap in a ball that De Gea blocked but
could not hold.
Messi has 40 goals in 33 games in all competitions and his
24 league goals put him two ahead of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo for
Spain's leading scorer. With 167 goals for Barcelona in all competitions, Messi
moved past Josep Escola (164) into sole possession of fourth place on the club
career scoring list, trailing Cesar Rodriguez (235), Laszlo Kubala (196) and
Josep Samitier (178).
“Messi is the best player I have ever seen,” said Sanchez
Flores. “He is the Di Stefano of the 21st century.” Messi said he wasn't “worried
about leading all scorers in Spain. What concerns me is that the team continues
to play like this and maintains its distance over the rest of the field.”
Barcelona set a club record of 28 games without a loss earlier this season and
stayed on pace to break a whole set of other records, including season points
total, victories in a season, goals scored and fewest goals allowed.
Earlier, Levante handed Villarreal its first loss this
season at El Madrigal Stadium with a 1-0 win, and Athletic Bilbao beat 10-man
Sporting Gijon 3-0 to move into fifth place ahead of Espanyol, which lost 3-2
at Almeria.
Villarreal had previously dropped only two points at home,
but Levante's line of five defenders succeeded in disrupting the “Yellow
Submarine's” normally potent attack, and Valmiro “Valdo” Lopes scored the
visitors' winner in the 49th minute.
Villarreal remained in third place, but let escape a great
chance to close on Real Madrid, which stayed six points clear.
At San Mames Stadium, David Lopez put Bilbao in front in the
16th from the penalty spot, Gaizka Toquero doubled the lead in the 27th, and
Llorente scored his 13th this season to cap the win in the 74th. Bilbao has won
four straight games for the first time 1997.
At Juegos Mediterraneos Stadium, Marcelo Silva, Kalu Uche,
Hernan Bernardello put Almeria ahead 3-0 in 18 minutes.
Joan Verdu and substitute Alvaro Vazquez cut the deficit for
Espanyol, but Almeria held on for its second home win.
Also, Getafe downed Deportivo La Coruna 4-1, while Mallorca
drew 1-1 at Osasuna and Racing Santander drew 1-1 at Zaragoza.
Adrian Colunga scored twice and Nicolas “Miku” Fedor added
another goal before halftime for Getafe.
Pedro Rios sealed the win in the 57th, and Ivan “Riki”
Sanchez-Rico scored Deportivo's consolation goal in the 69th with a penalty.
At Reyno de Navarra Stadium, Osasuna went ahead in the 8th
when Miguel Flano finished off a rebound in the area, but Gonzalo “Chori”
Castro equalized for Mallorca in the 37th.
Zaragoza winger Sad Boutahar canceled out Christian
Fernandez's 14th-minute opener with a goal in the 40th, but his team saw its
winning run end at three games.
