Messi’s 500th goal marred by Barcelona’s damaging loss to Valencia

Lionel Messi claimed the 500th goal of his professional career against Valencia on Sunday, but it did little to help Barcelona overcome another shocking defeat.

The five-time World Player of the Year tapped in his 450th for Barcelona – the only club he’s represented since his professional debut as a 17-year-old – adding to his 50 strikes for Argentina.

Historic goal from #Messi!
Leo now has 450 with @FCBarcelona
450 🔵 🔴 + 50 🇦🇷#Messi500 pic.twitter.com/7r2uKZHK9B

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 17, 2016

By reaching the milestone, Messi also put an end to one of his worst droughts, having gone 515 minutes in all competitions without scoring a goal. His last for Barcelona came against Arsenal in March during the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Blaugrana suffered mightily over that period. Atletico Madrid eliminated them from the Champions League earlier this week, and Real Sociedad pulled off a surprising 1-0 victory last weekend that blew the La Liga title race wide open.

Barcelona found itself in yet another losing position at home Sunday, and even with Messi’s goal, it couldn’t erase an utterly disastrous first half. An own goal from Ivan Rakitic and an accurate strike by Santi Mina built a 2-0 Valencia lead that Messi could only cut in half.

The Catalan club has now lost three league matches in a row for the first time since 2003.

The result means Atletico is tied with Barcelona on 76 points with five games remaining. Trailing by just a single point is arch-rival Real Madrid.

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