La Liga 2016/17: Barcelona 3-2 Real Sociedad, 5 talking points

Messi to the rescue again for Barcelona

Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 3-2 at the Nou Camp to keep the pressure on Real Madrid in the chase for the La Liga title. The Blaugrana took the lead against La Real and then went on to extend it but the visitors almost came back to level the score in a frantic five-goal first half.  

Barcelona are now just three points behind Real Madrid in the La Liga table ahead of the El Clasico next week. However, Los Blancos have a game in hand over their arch rivals. Here are the talking points from the game. 

#1 Messi takes his tally to 45 goals with 29 in La Liga

Lionel Messi opened the scoring against Real Sociedad with a brilliant strike from 25 yards out. The Argentine star was found in some space by Luis Suarez and the mercurial forward took one touch before unleashing a brute of a shot that darted into the bottom corner of the goal. A bundled effort soon after made it a brace for the Argentine forward.

Messi has now scored 29 goals in La Liga and 45 goals in all competitions and looks well on course to hit 50 goals in all competitions again. The first goal was the standout goal of the game and Barcelona will be looking to Messi to do more damage in their most testing week of the season coming up.