Barcelona edged closer to La Liga title upon spanking lowly team Tenerife 4-1 at Nou Camp on Tuesday. In-form forward Lionel Messi opened the scoring after 17 minutes when Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed a Daniel Alves cross in the path of the Argentine ace, who made no mistake from point-blank range. Roman Martinez brought the score level six minutes from halftime after Carlos Puyol's awkward pass resulted in an organized counter attack from Tenerife. Bojan Krkic restored the Catalans' slender lead three minutes past the hour mark when he latched onto a deft through from Alves, to go one-on-one with the keeper and score with a low effort. Messi turned provider with a defense-splitting pass that released Pedro Rodriguez, who made it three on 77 minutes. Seconds before the final whistle, Messi controlled an Alves long pass in the area to slot home and complete the rout.
Bojan Records Messi's brace took his league scoring tally to 31 goals. He also set a new single-season scoring record after his overall tally became 44. The highest one-season scoring record in La Liga has been set by Brazilian striker Ronaldo when he hit 34 goals in the 1996-1997 season. He was plying his trade at Barcelona at the time. The Catalans are now on top of the league table with record-breaking 93 points. Real Madrid set the previous record when they finished the 1996-1997 season with 92 points. Barca will retain the league title should they win their last two matches, as they are four points ahead of closest rivals Real.
