BARCELONA // First, Lionel Messi’s teammates surrounded him, then they lifted him up and threw him into the air.
In normal circumstances, such actions would be considered excessive during a match and even disrespectful to opponents, but no Sevilla player objected and one or two even applauded.
Messi had just become Spain’s all-time leading league scorer.
It is a celebration usually afforded to a jubilant coach after winning a trophy and happens post-match, but the special celebration for Messi was justified after he broke Telmo Zarra’s all-time record with his 252nd Barcelona goal.
It came in the 72nd minute of a 5-1 win against fifth-placed Sevilla.
Messi, 27, was a goal behind the legendary Basque’s record but he had not scored in the league for five weeks – a drought by his stellar standards.
When his left-foot free kick curled over the Sevilla wall in the 22nd minute of Saturday night’s league game, he equalled Zarra’s record.
The former Athletic Bilbao striker took 277 games to score his goals, Messi 289 games, with his left foot accounting for 206.
Zarra’s name is given to an award for the leading Spanish goalscorer each season.
It is one of the few trophies Messi is unable to win because of his nationality, but he has won everything else in club football and almost every individual award.
Barca’s mediocre form has caused concern and noises from the Messi camp about an uncertain future at the club have not helped.
Critics say Messi is too powerful within the club and that what he says goes – whether coaches or strike partners like it or not.
Yet he is indulged because of his brilliance and his immense popularity remains among the fans, who revel in the belief they are watching the planet’s finest footballer.
They sing the Argentine’s name during every match, more so against Sevilla.
Brazilian Neymar set up Messi’s second, which he dedicated to his son Thiago.
The Neymar-Messi partnership is still in its infancy, but looks like it could have more longevity than Messi’s previous foils Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa.
Neymar also set up Messi’s third – this time dedicated to his grandmother – for the Argentine’s 27th Barca hat-trick.
As the final whistle blew, Messi’s teammates again lifted him, before they remained in the centre circle to see the huge Camp Nou scoreboards fill with four minutes of Messi tributes from footballing legends past and present, plus stars of other sports including the Chicago Bulls’ Catalan basketball player Pau Gasol.
A beaming Messi occasionally covered his mouth to speak to teammates so that his words could not be detected by the cameras focusing on him.
Almost all the 78,283 crowd stayed to watch and applaud before his smiling teammates formed a guard of honour for Messi to leave the field holding the match ball.
“We didn’t want to be the guests at Messi’s party,” said Sevilla coach Unai Emery, “but we ended up being that. It was a lesson in modesty.”
“I never saw a player like Messi before, and I’ve seen many,” said his Barcelona counterpart Luis Enrique. “When I see him in training, I sometimes think he’s not human.”
“When I scored this goal, I couldn’t imagine I could break any record, let alone the one previously held by the great Telmo Zarra,” said Messi. “I was only able to achieve this because of the support from so many people and I’d like to dedicate this achievement to you all.”
This year has not been Messi’s best and he is unlikely to win the 2014 Ballon d’Or, but any niggling worries about Barca and their talisman were forgotten on Saturday night as Camp Nou celebrated a genuinely great achievement from Barcelona’s greatest player.
sports@thenational.ae
