Lionel Messi guided Jordi Alba’s cross in the net following his initial-half penalty was saved.© AFP
Lionel Messi scored his 643rd objective for Barcelona on Saturday to equal Pele’s record of ambitions for a single club as the Spanish giants had been held 2-2 by Valencia. Messi headed in from Jordi Alba’s cross following his initial-half penalty was saved to equal the mark set by the Brazilian fantastic for Santos. But Messi was left frustrated as a dogged Valencia forced a draw that leaves Barcelona eight points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, who beat Elche 3-1 earlier in the day.
Barcelona began gradually and went a objective behind to Mouctar Diakhaby’s unchallenged header from a corner following half an hour.
Antoine Griezmann earned the penalty that led to Messi’s record-equalling objective when the Frenchman was nudged more than by Jose Gaya.
Messi’s spot-kick was saved by Jaume Domenech but the ball rebounded and from Alba’s dinked cross, the Argentine headed the ball into the net to draw level with Pele.
Barcelona went ahead thanks to a excellent scissor kick from Uruguayan Ronald Araujo.
But Valencia’s stress was rewarded when Maxi Gomez got in front of Barca central defender Oscar Mingueza to turn in a cross and equalise.
Philippe Coutinho drove a shot just wide with 12 minutes remaining and Messi curled a totally free-kick wide but Barcelona had been forced to share the points.