Liga - Messi: Madrid are stronger

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi believes the Catalan club's great rivals Real Madrid have improved since Barca beat them to win the Spanish Super Cup in August.

"Madrid have strengthened their squad well with the aim of being better this season and they have achieved that," the Argentine World Player of the Year was quoted as saying in Marca sports daily on Friday.

"They have grown since August and they are stronger than last year," he told the Madrid-based newspaper. "But we are too with the additions we have made."

Jose Mourinho's Real side, who have won nine in a row in La Liga and the Champions League, can stretch their lead over Barca at the top to four points with a win at home toOsasuna on Sunday.

Barca, bidding for a fourth straight domestic title, play later on Sunday at Athletic Bilbao.

The pick of the weekend's matches pits third against fourth, with surprise packagesLevante hosting their more illustrious city rivals Valencia on Saturday.

Levante, who briefly topped the table for the first time in their 102-year history, are a point behind Barca in third and two ahead of Valencia.

Barca's game at Bilbao will reunite their Chile forward Alexis Sanchez with his former national team coach MarceloBielsa, the Argentine who took over at the Basque club for the start of this season.

Sanchez, who joined from Udinese in the close season, came on as a substitute in Tuesday's Champions League game at Viktoria Plzen after an injury absence of nearly two months.

Real Betis coach Pepe Mel is under pressure ahead of Saturday's game at home to big-spending Andalusian rivalsMalaga.

Promoted Betis won their opening four matches but have lost their last six and slipped to 12th.

"We are tense and anxious to get back on the pitch, angry that things have not worked out for us despite all the work," Mel told a news conference on Friday.

"We want to win to put everyone's minds at rest, as well as our own," he added.

Atletico Madrid have been their usual erratic selves this term, going seven games without a win in all competitions after a strong start, but showed what they are capable of in Thursday's 4-0 Europa League win at home to Udinese.

Spain under-21 striker Adrian, who scored twice at the Calderon, said the win had been good for morale.

"These two straight wins were important for the team," he told reporters. Atletico beat Real Zaragoza 3-1 at home last weekend and are 10th on 13 points.

Messi already among greatest ever players

A Catalan family saunter up the tree-lined Rambla Catalunya in central Barcelona on Sunday afternoon. Dad admires the giant Audi people carrier which stops in traffic alongside them, while mum tries to stop her two kids from working out who is driving behind the blacked out windows.

"It's Messi!" shouts the oldest child. "It's Lionel Messi."

The world's best footballer could have shot off in his high-powered motor, but instead lowered the windows and posed for two quick photos with the boys, taken with their father's phone. Messi's long-time girlfriend in the passenger seat smiles and points to indicate that the traffic lights have changed. The windows go up and the Messi-mobile zooms off.

"Do you think he's the best player ever?" asks a man walking up the street. "Because I do."

That man in is better qualified than most. Arnau Riera was Messi's captain for the 2004-05 season for Barca's B team. Messi hadn't spotted his former team-mate - who has just recovered from two serious injuries to make a comeback in the Spanish third division - and their worlds no longer coincide; but Arnau has nothing but praise for the Argentine. No players accuse him of being arrogant or 'big time' - a mortal sin for any footballer from Rochdale to Real Madrid. 

Arguments about who is the best player ever are subjective. There can be no definitive answer, and it is impossible to compare different generations; but a holy trinity of Pele, Maradona and Johan Cruyff seems to exist. You will find Spaniards adding Alfredo Di Stefano or Ferenc Puskas to that list; the Dutch and Milanese cite Marco van Basten; Britons mention George Best, Bobby Charlton and Stanley Matthews; Germans idolise Franz Beckenbauer; in Portugal Eusebio is king; and in France Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini are legendary. And there is probably a Wolves fan who thinks Steve Bull is the greatest footballer to have trodden the earth.

Messi is only 24, but he is already up with that legendary historical triumvirate. He found out on Sunday morning that he had made the 23-man shortlist of the Ballon d'Or yet again - far from a surprise, of course. He is the overwhelming favourite to win the trophy for the third successive year, matching Platini's achievement in the 1980s with that great Juventus side.

Messi is annihilating records season after season. He is already the second-highest goalscorer in Barca's history, and surpassed the 200-goal mark for the club against the Czech champions Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday in Prague. His consistency remains remarkable - he has scored more goals in each successive season that he has played for Barca, bar one.

Saturday night saw him record a hat-trick in the first 29 minutes of the game against Mallorca for his 17th, 18th and 19th goals of the season. Tuesday night saw him add yet another hat-trick with goals 200, 201 and 202 for Barca. Few thought that he would beat last season's total of 53 goals for Barca - a club record for a single season - but he's already on 22 goals from just 17 matches. That's a strike rate of 1.29 goals per game. He played 55 matches last season; if he carries on at his current rate, he'll hit over 70 goals this term. That won't happen, but Messi's goal ratio continues to increase.

Messi is maturing off the field too. He may have a shy and quiet demeanour, but he's a confident lad who knows exactly what he wants, whether it's a modelling contract with Dolce & Gabbana, Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of the door or to dodge speaking to the media for six months.

In coach Pep Guardiola he has someone who indulges his genius, his foibles. Before the Mallorca game Guardiola said: "Messi knows very well what we all think, all of the coaching staff, the people that look after him, and the other players,

"We are all delighted with what he does, has done and will do. And of course nothing that we have done would have been possible without him.

"He is a different kind of player, his stats make him different and he lets you win games at all levels.  There is never a game in which he doesn't generate chances. I don't think there has ever been a player in history that can do what he manages to do every three days. People buy tickets just to see him play and he is doing something unique.

"To find a player that has managed to be so consistent for four years, who is so fit, who fights so hard as him, I've never seen anything like it."

Guardiola is not predisposed to such praise, but you couldn't stop the Barca coach.

"Perhaps I'm too young," he concluded, "but I never played with anybody like him and I have never coached a player like that either. He is a better player than anybody else; he has a gift."  

Lionel Messi hits three as Barcelona thrash Viktoria Plzen

Lionel Messi, left, celebrating with Adriano, was in sparkling form for Barcelona against Plzen. Photograph: Filip Singer/EPA

Lionel Messi scored his 200th goal for Barcelona when he netted a penalty in the 24th minute at Viktoria Plzen before completing a second consecutive hat-trick.

The referee pointed to the spot after the 24-year-old Argentinian was brought down by the defender Marian Cisovsky and he struck the ball into the net to the goalkeeper's right to become only the second Barça player to reach the mark.

Messi, top scorer in the Champions League for the past three seasons, then added a second and third in stoppage time in each half to complete a 14th career hat-trick. Cesc Fábregas scored Barcelona's third.

Messi hit three in the 5-0 La Liga win at home to Real Mallorca on Saturday and the goals here on Tuesday night helped to put the holders Barça through to the Champions League last 16 with two games to spare.

"I am happy but more than anything for the result," Messi said, adding that he was not thinking about catching the Catalan club's record marksman, César Rodríguez, who scored 235.

"It's not my goal, far from it. The important thing was to win tonight and get through to the last 16. My aim is simply to keep going in the same way, to keep helping the team with my goals and together we will achieve some great things."

Messi took second spot on the list of Barcelona's record goalscorers from Hungarian Ladislau Kubala last month and is fast closing in on Rodríguez, who has held the record since the 1950s.

The Barça goalkeeper Víctor Valdés also wrote his name into the record books on Tuesday when he set a new club best for minutes unbeaten.

The 29-year-old has not conceded a goal in 877 minutes, beating a mark of 824 set in the 1972-73 season by Miguel Reina, father of the Liverpool keeper and Valdés's Spain team‑mate Pepe Reina.

It is also the first time Barça have gone nine games without conceding. The last team to score against them were Valencia in La Liga on 21 September.

Liga - Adrian double gives Atletico victory

Atletico Madrid collected their first La Liga win in five matches with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Real Zaragoza at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.

Adrian powered a glorious header into the net from 12 yards on 18 minutes from Arda Turan's cross.

With the visiting side all over the place at the back, Atletico added a second when Alvaro Dominguez nodded over the line after Diego Godin had headed Gabi's free-kick back across the visiting goal.

Adrian thumped the ball into the net fromFilipe's cutback on 75 minutes, with Helder Postiga's 79th-minute header proving a consolation for the visitors after he popped up unmarked to convert from Luis Garcia's corner.

Atletico had only lost one of their past six league meetings with Zaragoza, and there was little danger of that pattern being upset by a sloppy Zaragoza side.

The win eases the pressure on Atletico manager Gregorio Manzano, whose side went into the match with only two wins and 10 points from nine games.

They had failed to find a win in their previous seven matches.

Winger Jose Antonio Reyes was dropped from the squad after using insulting language to react to his substitution in the 3-0 defeat to Athletic Bilbao.

These three points help them rise to ninth in the table on 13 points with Athletic two goals better off in eighth spot in the standings.

Eurospor

Liga - Spain dominate World Player of the Year shortlist

World and European champions Spain dominated the shortlist for the Player of the Year award with seven players among the 23 nominees.

Argentina's Lionel Messi will attempt to win the award for the third year in a row, having surprisingly beaten his Barcelona team matesXavi and Andres Iniesta last year.

The trio were among eight Barcelona players to make the shortlist for this year while Barca's arch-rivals Real Madrid have five.

Frenchman Eric Abidal, who had surgery to remove a liver tumour earlier this year before making a triumphant return to lift the Champions League trophy with Barcelona, was also among the nominees.

Daniel Alves and Neymar were the only Brazilians named while Sergio Aguero was the only other Argentine apart from Messi.

Uruguay strikers Luis Suaraz and Diego Forlan were nominated after helping their team win the Copa America in July and Oscar Tabarez was on the 10-man shortlist for the Coach of the Year award.

Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o was the only African player to be included. The list will be whittled down to three on Dec. 5 with the winner being announced in Zurich on January 9.

The award is organised jointly by FIFA and France Football magazine, the two having merged their previously separate awards last year.

Nominees:

Eric Abidal (Barcelona, France)

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, Argentina)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)

Daniel Alves (Barcelona, Brazil)

Samuel Eto'o (Anzhi Makhachkala, Cameroon)

Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, Spain)

Diego Forlan (Inter Milan, Uruguay)

Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)

Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich, Germany)

Nani (Manchester United, Portugal)

Neymar (Santos, Brazil)

Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid, Germany)

Gerard Pique (Barcelona, Spain)

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England)

Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, Germany)

Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan, Netherlands)

Luis Suarez (Liverpool, Uruguay)

David Villa (Barcelona, Spain)

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, Spain)

Xavi (Barcelona, Spain)

Reuters

Levante bring breath of fresh air to La Liga

The blue and claret shirts of the current La Liga leaders have a familiar look about them but, rather than belonging to Spanish giants Barcelona - champions for the last three seasons - the apparel is that of modest Levante.

With seven wins and two draws, the Valencia-based side are one point ahead of Real Madrid - having inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Jose Mourinho's men at home last month - and another point clear of third-placed Barca.

Shock and surprise are just two of the words that have been regularly used in the last week at this unprecedented state of affairs, with Levante topping La Liga for the first time in their 102-year history.

How did they get there? Where have they come from? And can they stay there?

Not a galactico in sight, but Levante have lit up La Liga this season. Photo: Getty

Levante have built their success on an unlikely combination of factors.

Firstly, few people expected the new coach Juan Ignacio Martinez to be a miracle worker.

The 47-year-old, described in one pre-season guide as a "globe trotter around the Mediterranean", with a CV that mainly included lower league clubs on the coast, had never before coached in the Spanish first division.

However, he has managed to create a never-say-die team spirit within his motley collection of journeymen professionals.

Arguably the biggest name in his squad is the 33-year-old former Inter Milan midfielderFrancisco Farinos, who earned a couple of Spanish caps over a decade ago.

"What this team has achieved seems impossible. At the start of the season all that I was looking for was to avoid relegation" said Martinez on Monday, seemingly unable to comprehend his team's place at the top of the league.

"It's very easy to look at the table when you are first," added the Levante captain Sergio Ballesteros, who admitted that there had been times in previous seasons when he couldn't bring himself to open a newspaper on Monday mornings.

Never before in Levante's chequered league history, whether the club has been in the first or fourth tier of Spanish football, had they strung together six consecutive wins, let alone the seventh they notched up against Real Sociedad on Wednesday.

That 3-2 victory also made Martinez only the second La Liga novice coach to put together such a winning streak.

In addition to Martinez's influence, nearly every player has also been performing far beyond his expected ability.

Uruguay goalkeeper Gustavo Munua has been in outstanding form, at least until they faced Real Sociedad, when things didn't go quite so well and it required a Ruben goal three minutes into injury time to maintain their pole position.

Up front, Valdo, Arouna Kone and Juanlu have combined to form a great strike threat, asReal Madrid found out.

Ivory Coast international Kone, the scorer against Real, has been revitalised since joining Levante on loan, as part of a house-clearing exercise by Sevilla during the summer.

Sevilla club president Jose Maria del Nido hailed Kone as "one of the best strikers in the world" when he arrived from PSV Eindhoven in 2007 for 12m euros.

But he never settled, his form fell apart, his confidence tumbled and he was also bedevilled by injuries.

In four years at Sevilla, he scored just one league goal. At Levante, he has already found the net three times in nine games.

In addition his goals, Kone has also been creating opportunities every game for his colleagues to capitalise on.

Manager Juan Ignacio Martinez has fostered a never-say-die team spirit. Photo: Getty

Levante's current situation is all the more remarkable as they were on the brink of bankruptcy barely three years.

Astonishing mismanagement saw the club owing around 18m euros to creditors, and players went through almost all of the 2007-08 season without being paid. The financial crisis at the club was one of the main incidents behind the La Liga players' strike at the start of this season.

After substantial help from local councils - their shirts bear the words "Comunitat Valenciana" with the regional government as a sponsor - and many debts being written off, the club is still run on a shoestring.

Total signings this summer came to less than 300,000 euros. Levante's total wage bill is around 5m euros, less than half of the individual salaries of Cristiano Ronaldo andLionel Messi.

After two seasons in the second division, Levante finished 14th on their return to the top flight, which most people considered a major feat. At the start of the season, they were many peoples' tip for relegation.

To be fair, not a single well-known pundit has put his or her neck on the line and said that they expect Levante still to be on top in May. They have yet to face any of the four clubs behind them - Real Madrid, Barcelona, local rivals Valencia and Sevilla - away from home and they have only played host to Real so far.

Nevertheless, their appearance at the top of the table has captured the imagination of the public and the media.

"A wind has blown through La Liga and it's called Levante," said the daily sports newspaper Marca on Monday.

It remains to be seen whether this is a wind that will blow itself out shortly but for the moment it has certainly provided a welcome breath of fresh air.