Football: The league isn’t over yet, says Messi

Barca superstar remains confident after La Liga draw.

MADRID: Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi was confident that his team would claw their way to the top spot in La Liga despite having to settle for a goal-less draw against Villarreal.

Messi said Barcelona had been unlucky to lose out on full points in their match.

“The league isn’t over yet, there is still a long way to go,” said Messi. “We just lacked a bit of luck tonight. We didn’t play as well as we can do, but we created chances and all we lacked was a goal.”

The result left the defending champions seven points behind Real Madrid at the top of the table as the leaders secured a 3-1 win over Real Zaragoza following goals by Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil.

Madrid’s Esteban Granero, who started only his second league match of the season, summed up the importance of the result for his team.

“We had to win this game and maintain the gap that we have at the top of the league,” said Granero.

In another match, Fernando Llorente scored a hat-trick for Athletic Bilbao in a 3-2 win at Rayo Vallecano.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2012.