BARCELONA: Lionel Messi marked his 700th game for Barcelona by scoring his 613th goal on Wednesday as the Catalans beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 to go through as group winners to the Champions League last 16.
Messi celebrated his anniversary in style by putting Barca two up before half-time, between laying on a pair of assists for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann in a comfortable victory at Camp Nou.
“He was incredible,” said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. “It’s all about what he does and when he does it. It was a performance to put us through.”
England’s Jadon Sancho fired into the top corner for a late Dortmund consolation but the visitors were largely disappointing and now face a fight with Inter Milan to make it out of Group F.
Dortmund will hope to beat Slavia Prague at home in a fortnight’s time while relying on Barcelona to play a strong enough team to avoid defeat at the San Siro, eight days before the season’s first Clasico at home to Real Madrid.
“We got the most difficult group in the competition in my opinion,” said Valverde. “We are through with a game to spare, first in the group, and for the players that means a lot.”
While Real have hit their stride in recent weeks, Barca have stumbled, even if the results have been good enough to remain top of La Liga on goal difference.
For that they owe a great deal to Messi, who now has 10 goals in his last nine games, a timely surge into form ahead of the announcement of the Ballon d’Or in Paris on Monday, for which his greatest threat is Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk.
