Diego Simeone and his Atletico Madrid players went to the Nou Camp with the sole aim of getting all three points knowing that short of that could hamper their chances of lifting the coveted La Liga title. They gave their best but one moment of brilliance from Lionel Messi was all Barcelona need to secure all three points and brightened their chances of lifting the La Liga title.

Both Diego Simeone and his Barcelona managerial counterpart, Ernesto Valverde, praise Lionel Messi star quality following Barcelona's 1-0 win on Sunday afternoon. Simeone claimed that Lionel Messi brilliance made the difference for Barcelona in Sunday's 1-0 defeat.

Lionel Messi scored a wonderful free-kick in the first half which proved to be the difference between the two teams and moved them eight points clear of Atletico Madrid on the top of the table and Simeone admitting the difficulties of repeating Atletico Madrid's "impossible" title win of 2013-14

Simeone explained in his post-match press conference. "If we take Messi and put him in an Atletico shirt, we win this match 1-0, Messi is a special player, he made the difference.

"We have no doubt that we can get closer to our objectives. What we can't do is distance ourselves from the numerical reality that Barcelona and Real Madrid have been dominating for 14 years, we did the impossible [in winning the 2013/14 title] and it's hard to repeat that."

It was an eagerly anticipated match, a win for the Ros Blancos would have cut Barcelona lead to just two points but the game it lacked the usual spark of a heavyweight clash there were few opportunities in the game, but Simeone believes it was a very even encounter.

"It was an even match, I don't think we lacked application in the first half, however, we didn't see our best until the second half. The game is 90 minutes and there's always stages when you don't play well. There were very few chances in the game and while we didn't attack in the first half, in the second we were closer to being the team we truly are."

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde also applauded Lionel Messi, claiming the title race is still alive with 11 games left to play.
"There is no player like Messi in the world," he said. "Obviously there are several matches left, but we have taken a step forward. We'll see what the future holds.
"It was a very important game because being eight points ahead is not the same as two."

Lionel Messi impressive record against Atletico Madrid
With the stunning Free Kick against Atletico Madrid, Lionel Messi registered his 600th career goals 539 of those strikes have come for Barcelona, with a further 61 coming for Argentina in 747 total games.

Atletico must be sick of the sight of him, although he only scored three goals in the last 8 games against Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid are Messi's second favorite opponent and his first-half free kick was his 28th goal against them 36 games, 3 were from free kicks and only 1 was a penalty goal.

He has now scored in 19 different games against Atletico Madrid will with Barcelona winning 18 of them. 16 of those goals were at the Camp Nou. Only Sevilla has conceded more from the Argentinian (29 goals in 31 games).

MESSI 33 FREE KICK FOR BARCELONA BY SEASON
2008/09 1 free kick goal
2009/10 2 free kick goal
2010/11 1 free kick goal
2011/12 3 free kick goal
2011/13 4 free kick goal
2013/14 3 free kick goal
2014/15 2 free kick goal
2015/16 7 free kick goal
2016/17 4 free kick goal
2017/18 6 free kick goal
Making a total of 33 free kick goals

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Against Atletico Madrid-Scores a free-kick
Against Las Palmas- Scores a free-kick
Against Girona- Scores a free-kick

Lionel Messi leads the race for the 2017/18 European Golden Shoe continues
48 - Messi
48 - Salah
48 - Kane
48 - Cavani
46 - Immobile
45 - Jonas
42 - Agüero
40 - Suárez
40 - Lewandowski

After 27 rounds, Messi leads La Liga in
Goals
Assists
Passes before the assist
Shots on goal
Completed dribbles
Chances created.

Lionel Messi this season is on fire
Messi scored against Chelsea for The first time in his career
Messi scored against Juventus for The first time in his career
Messi and Barcelona breaking the Anoeta curse.
Messi scored against Las Palmas away for The first time in his career.
Messi scored 3 freekicks Goals In 3 consecutive Games for the first time in his career.
Messi scored against Girona Making him the player who has scored against 36 teams In LA LIGA.
Messi and Barcelona breaking Pep Guardiola Record.
Messi broke Gerd Muller record for becoming The first player to score 366 Goals for a single club.
Messi became the player with most assists In LA LIGA history.

Gary Lineker wrote on his twitter account.
Messi scored his 600th goal to beat Atletico and surely clinch La Liga for Barcelona If he were just a goal scorer it would be astonishing, but the fact he’s also the best dribbler I’ve ever seen and as good a passer as I’ve ever seen makes him the best I’ve ever seen.

What do you think? Have a say, drop your comments below

don't test him even if you testicles or a prick