Messi the star again as Barca keep in touch

Leo Messi was again the star of the show as FC Barcelona won what was probably the best game of the season in the Spanish Liga Santander on Sunday.

Barca were second best for 40 minutes against a rampant Sevilla, who had already defeated Atletico Madrid in front of their fans in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, before Messi leveled the scores with a powerful shot.

It was his 500th goal for Barcelona: his 469th in a competitive game with 31 netted in friendlies, and was the launch pad for Barca's second half improvement which saw Messi set up Luis Suarez for the winning goal on the hour.

After the 2-1 match, injured team-mate Gerard Pique commented that Messi was the best player in the world and "should have won the Balon D'Or" award for every year since 2009.

Meanwhile Barca coach Luis Enrique was also full of praise for the striker, who has now scored 16 goals all season.

"The capacity Messi has to interpret anything is incredible, there is nobody like him and our aim is to look for him as much as possible with the ball," said Enrique.

"Leo played well, but his team-mates were also important as we all knew just how important it was to win this game," he added.

Messi's display helped keep Barca just two points behind Real Madrid at the top of the table going into the international break.

When football returns in two weeks, Real Madrid will face some tough away games: away to local rivals, Atletico Madrid and then against Barca in the Camp Nou in a period which will go a long way towards deciding the destiny of the league title. Endit