He's very important for us: Koeman says Messi 'happy' at Barcelona
Dec 23, 2020
Valladolid [Spain], December 23 : Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman said Lionel Messi is happy at the club while stressing that the Argentine is "very important" for the team.
Earlier this year, Messi and Barcelona had a bad fallout as the striker expressed his desire to leave the club. However, in the end, he stayed with the Spanish side as he did not want to settle matters in court.
Koeman's remarks came after Messi moved past former footballer Pele as the highest goalscorer ever for a single club during Barcelona's 3-0 win over Valladolid here on Wednesday.
"I have said it a lot. I see Leo happy here. He is very important for us with his creativity. You can see that when there are good players alongside him," Goal.com quoted Koeman as saying.
Messi scored the third goal of the match as he set a new world record. The Argentine striker has now scored a staggering 644 goals, all wearing an FC Barcelona shirt, across 17 seasons and 749 games. That surpassed the 643 goals that the Brazilian scored for Santos which was until now the world record.
Pele, who played his last game for Santos in 1974 was one of the greatest players ever to grace the game.
However, there's another Pele record that Messi has in his sights. The 77 goals that the Brazilian scored for his country are still a South American record. But Messi has 71 for Argentina and needs just six more to equal that number.
During the La Liga clash, Clement Lenglet scored the opening goal, putting Barcelona ahead in the 21st minute. Martin Braithwaite then added another goal to Barcelona's tally in the 35th minute before Messi's second-half strike sealed a 3-0 win for the club.
Sitting fifth on the La Liga table, Barcelona will now take on Eibar on December 29.
