Pichichi 2012 titleholder Lionel Messi affirmed his authority with a fine display on the opening weekend of La Liga. With his brace, La Pulga quickly ended the contest for visitors Real Sociedad.
Gonzalo Castro had cancelled out Carles Puyol’s opener but goals from Messi in the 11th and 16th minutes inspired Barcelona to a 5-1 win on the night. Thanks to his man-of-the-match performance against Sociedad, Lionel Messi joined J. Molina, M.S. Jose and T. Hemed at the top of the La Liga goal scorers chart.
The Barcelona talisman leads the shots per game board with 8 attempts. He is ahead of Real Mallorca’s Tomer Hemed (7), Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain (6) and Cristiano Ronaldo (5).
Goals: 2; Assists: 0; Yellow card: 0; Red card: 0; Total shots: 8; Passing accuracy: 70/78 (89.7 per cent)
Lionel Messi's next La Liga match: Osasuna vs Barcelona - August 26
It was a rather quiet night for Cristiano Ronaldo. The number 7 star could not open his goal account despite making a total of 5 shots in the match.
While the best chances fell to team mate Gonzalo Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo had a number of good touches on the ball. However, his passing game was not as impressive as expected. Ronaldo attempted nothing more than 34 passes, 8 of which could not go through.
Goals: 0; Assists: 0; Yellow card: 0; Red card: 0; Total shots: 5; Passing accuracy: 26/34 (76.5 per cent)
Cristiano Ronaldo's next La Liga match: Getafe vs Real Madrid - August 26
Falcao produced a decent performance against Levante. Despite not finding the back of the net, he set up Ardan Turan’s 22nd minute equalizer. Radamel Falcao hit a better number than Atletico Madrid’s average in terms of pass accuracy.
Goals: 0; Assists: 1; Yellow card: 0; Red card: 0; Total shots: 2; Passing accuracy: 20/21 (95.2 per cent)
Radamel Falcao's next La Liga match: Atletico Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao - August 27
Current La Liga top scorer standings (Top 5)
Tomer Hemed (Real Mallorca): 2 goals (100 per cent of Mallorca's total)
Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao): 2 goals (67 per cent of Bilbao's total)
Jorge Molina (Real Betis): 2 goals (40 per cent of Betis' total)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona): 2 goals (40 per cent of Barca's total)
Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid): 1 goal (100 per cent of Madrid's total)
