Once again, Lionel Messi has successfully written his name in the Spanish La Liga's folklore, this time with his brace against Real Betis in Barcelona last game of the season on Sunday.
Having already clinched the league title, the Catalans traveled to the Ipurua Municipal Stadium with almost nothing to play for. However, they were made to stage a comeback with the hosts opening the scoring in the 20th minute.
Lionel Messi bagged his first goal 11 minutes after Marc Cucurella had put Betis in front and added another in a matter of seconds before Pablo De Blasis restored parity on the brink of half-time. Following his first half feat, Messi successfully took his goal tally for the season to 36 in 34 appearances.
Deservedly so, the 31-year-old clinched the Pichichi for the third consecutive season. The Barca No. 10 also entered La Liga's history books with his sixth Pichichi win, equalling the legendary Telmo Zarra's record.
2009/2010
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 19, 2019
2011/2012
2012/2013
2016/2017
2017/2018
2018/2019 pic.twitter.com/HFW1jKQAkz
Messi also extended his record of scoring 50+ goals across all club competitions to six. The Argentine is the first player in Europe's top-five leagues to score that amount of goals. He has virtually clinched the Golden Boot this season as he leads Mbappe by four goals. The French star has one more game to play in the Ligue 1 next week.
A chance for Messi to wrap up his sixth Golden Shoe?
— Goal (@goal) May 19, 2019
Lionel Messi: 34 goals
Kylian Mbappe: 32 goals
PSG still have one game left pic.twitter.com/ypF7es74E3