Lionel Messi scored again as Barcelona scrapped to a 2-0 win over Leganes in La Liga 2019-20 on Tuesday. Messi, who also netted in the club’s previous match against Mallorca, reached yet another milestone when he found the net deep into the second half. The second consecutive win not only took Barcelona steps closer to a third successive league title but also temporarily put them five points clear of Real Madrid, who host Valencia on Thursday. Ansu Fati opened the scoring for Barcelona towards the end of the first half, which surprisingly was also the side’s first shot on target. Barcelona 2-0 Leganes, La Liga 2019-20 Match Result: Lionel Messi, Ansu Fati Strikes Take Hosts Five-Point Clear At the Top.

Heading into the game on a five-league match winning run, Barcelona looked far from the side that scored within the opening 65 seconds against Mallorca in their previous game. The two-time defending champions nearly went behind in the opening minutes when Miguel Angel Guerrero beat goalkeeper March-Andre ter Stegen twice from the right but was first denied by a goal-line clearance from Clement Lenglet and then by the post.

But after a frustrating opening start the home side settled down when Fati fired low into the bottom right corner from outside the box after receiving a pass from Junior Firpo, who had replaced the suspended Jordi Alba in the starting eleven.

Lionel Messi Scores Yet Again!!

Messi then scored from the spot 24 minutes into the second half having earned the penalty himself with a dazzling run from the half-line circle. It was his 629th goal for Barcelona and took his career scoring tally to 699 goals for both club and country. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (725) has scored more than the Argentine among active players. Messi is also seventh in the all-time list of player with most career goals, which is led by Josef Bican (805).

The 32-years old has scored 629 times for Barcelona in 720 matches and is their highest goal-scorer of all time. He has also netted 70 times in 138 appearances for the Argentina national football team and is also their record all-time top goalscorer.

Messi also leads the La Liga goalscoring and assists charts and currently hold a seven-goal lead over second-placed Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (14) in the scoring list after his strike against Leganes. He has 14 league assists to his name already and is the leader in this list. Meanwhile, Messi can become the first La Liga player to score 700 goals when Barcelona travel to Sevilla on Friday.

Antoine Griezmann thought he had added a third late in the second half. But the goal was ruled out for an offside with VAR replays showing that right-back Nelson Semedo was steps ahead of the touchline before making his cross that led to Griezmann’s goal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2020 09:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).