Barcelona’s mesmeric Lionel Messi shows no signs of slowing even after 500 goals

This week's Primera Liga in focus looks at the durability of Barcelona's talisman and Andy Mitten speaks to former Portugal international Nuno Gomes about how Cristiano Ronaldo can play beyond his new recently signed Real Madrid contract.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Sevilla on November 6, 2016. Cristina Ouicler / AFP

"Lionel Messi's capacity to interpret any situation is remarkable," said Barcelona manager Luis Enrique after his latest game on Sunday. "There's no one like him."

The situation Messi found himself in on Sunday evening in Seville's feverish Sanchez Pizjuan stadium was that his team were a goal down to a very good side who had won every game played at home so far this season. Sevilla, the Europa League winners four times in the past decade, look even more exciting under new manager Jorge Sampaoli. They opened with an assault on the Catalan goal, pressing the team famous for pressing. They were the better side against a Barca team who had just been beaten by Manchester City in the Uefa Champions League and were missing Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta.

See also:

• In pictures: Leo Messi and Luis Suarez bring Barcelona back over Sevilla

• La Liga results: Barca 'look for Leo as much as possible' as Messi leads fightback

• Ian Hawkey: Jorge Sampaoli has made Sevilla exciting, bold and maybe even a real title threat

Sevilla took the lead and the champions looked rattled until Messi produced his finest performance of the season and raised the standard of his team.

One of the great sights of modern football is watching Barcelona go through the gears, which they need to do against the best. Inspired by Messi, they got themselves back into the game just before half time through Messi’s 500th goal for his club in 592 games, a staggering statistic for a player not yet 30. It was also his 51st goal this calendar year. Messi broke the club’s goalscoring record of 1940s superstar Cesar Rodriguez as long ago as 2012.

Sunday's game was the most engrossing in the Primera Liga so far this season, two great sides going toe-to-toe in pursuit of victory. Luis Suarez got Barca's 61st-minute winner and Sevilla eventually fell off from the frenetic pace they had set themselves, but Messi was the difference.

“That was decisive, emotionally,” said Sampaoli, who had stated before the game that he had a plan to deal with Barca and another to deal with Messi. Asked after the match why his plan did not work, he said: “Because sometimes Messi lets you stop him and sometimes he doesn’t. When the game breaks, he’s unstoppable.”

Unlike other footballers who have played as many games, Messi’s mind and body do not show an ounce of depreciation. He is still a game changer, still utterly driven to win time after time in pursuit of personal and team excellence. When he was booked in the second half for time wasting, he was furious and claimed that his laces were broken after a challenge from Steven N’Zonzi, La Liga’s most impressive midfielder this season. Barca have appealed against the decision.

His teammate Pique also knows how to interpret a situation. Though Madridistas will take what he said as a dig at Cristiano Ronaldo, Pique tweeted: "If the Ballon d'Or is given to the best player of the world, Leo should have won each year from 2009. Another level."

That’s a strong statement given the trophies won by the players in a calendar year have a strong influence on the winner and Ronaldo won the Champions League and the European Championship in 2016 with Portugal.

Ronaldo is good for Messi and vice versa.

“Look,” Xavi explained to this writer when he asked him about Ronaldo. “Messi is the greatest footballer ever, but he wouldn’t be as good without Ronaldo. He wouldn’t have won all those Ballon d’Ors. And I don’t think Ronaldo would have won them all too. They push each other. The difference between the two is that while they’re both great goalscorers, Messi is much more involved in the play of the team. Messi touches the ball 100 times in a game, Ronaldo 30. There’s a big difference.”

The superlatives have long run out for Messi. In Spanish football vernacular, a “crack” means a great player, the best. Messi is referred to as a “supercrack”.

Messi’s next game is for Argentina against Brazil in Belo Horizonte on Thursday in a 2018 World Cup qualifier. After 10 games of the very tough South American qualifying group, Argentina are sixth, Brazil first. Only the top four qualify automatically for the World Cup in Russia. For the second time in five days, Messi’s team will look to their talisman in a crucial game.

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Cristiano Ronaldo still the king at Real Madrid’s castle

Gareth Bale may have been the best player at Real Madrid so far this season, and he scored twice in the 3-0 win at home to Leganes, but Cristiano Ronaldo remains the king of the Bernabeu castle. Ronaldo is 31, yet still managed to secure an astonishing five-year contract at Madrid which will make him the best paid player in the world. That will be the cue for Lionel Messi to negotiate his latest new contract.

Ronaldo is not only the best-paid footballer but the best-paid athlete on the planet. His original deal was set to expire at the end of the 2017/18 season.

• Andy Mitten: Gareth Bale's new contract highlights his importance to the present and future of Real Madrid

Fearing Premier League poachers, Madrid have signed most of their first-team regulars on long-term deals with ridiculous buyout clauses that are unlikely ever to be met, but it is still a huge commitment from Madrid for a player who, unlike Messi, is showing a small decline.

Will he still be able to produce the spectacular highs at age 35 and 36, when he will have been at the club for 12 years? Nobody knows, but Ronaldo maintains that he will play until he is 40. He does not even see his latest contract as his final one, merely the “penultimate” one.

His former Manchester United teammate Ryan Giggs managed to play at the highest level until he was 40, but he had to adapt his game. Pace and power is a big part of Ronaldo’s game.

The Portuguese is as motivated and driven as any player and there is no reason for that to fade. His commercial value to Madrid remains significant, too, and is only likely to dip long after his form – shirts with Wayne Rooney’s name on were a bestseller at Manchester United well after his peak years as a player. No sportsperson on the planet has his social media reach, with 246 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

"We can see that Cristiano is still a great player with great capacity," his former Portugal teammate Nuno Gomes told The National. "We can also see that footballers are prolonging their careers because of technology and sport science. Players now know exactly what their physical condition is."

Ronaldo is a global star, his face most commonly seen in his homeland where it features on billboards promoting myriad products.

“If you want to give an example of a role model to a young player starting out then Cristiano is that man,” Gomes adds. “He is extremely professional.”

But surely he cannot be the same player at 36 as 26, his speed and strength must diminish?

“Of course his game will change and maybe he will adapt to another position,” Gomes said, “but you have to look at how good he is with the ball at his feet. Sometimes you don’t need to run to be a great player.”

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Game of the week

The international break means there are no Primera Liga games for two weeks, with England against Spain the pick of the friendlies at Wembley Stadium on November 15.

There is, however, football in Spain’s second division, where relegated Levante now have a 10-point lead at the top. They showed why they are clear favourites for an immediate return to the top flight with a 1-0 win at second-placed Reus at the weekend.

Player of the week

Lionel Messi, obviously. But Carlos Vela is showing the form at Real Sociedad which once saw him courted by Europe’s biggest clubs. The former Arsenal man was La Real’s best player in a 2-0 win against Atletico Madrid, scoring the opening goal. The Basques are up to sixth in La Liga and in a European qualification spot.

What else?

Celta Vigo beat Valencia at home. The only surprise was that leading scorer Iago Aspas didn’t score. The attack-minded Galicians are excellent at home, but leak too many goals. Tighten that up and pick up more away points and they will be a good shout for a top-six finish. Valencia? The only team in the league without a clean sheet this season.

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