For years, Lionel Messi scored crucial late goals for Barcelona, but his LaLiga record has now been broken by Alexander Sorloth.
Barcelona's poor form continued on Saturday, losing at home to Atlético Madrid and falling behind Diego Simeone in the LaLiga standings. The 2-1 home defeat was sealed with a dramatic late winner from Atléti striker Alexander Sorloth, who came off the bench to score in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
With that goal, Sorloth takes a LaLiga record from a Barcelona legend.
Lionel Messi scored 474 goals in the Spanish top flight and held the record for late winners, with four winning goals after the 90th minute. With his goal on Saturday, against Barcelona, Sorloth now has five.
“It took Sorloth to win here,” Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak said after the match, reflecting on his team's poor performance in Barcelona. 'It's not easy to carry on and do what he does. He always does his job and scores the goals we need. He is the striker we were looking for.”
Barcelona's slump continues in LaLiga
After a red-hot start to the 2024/25 season, Barcelona's form has dipped in recent weeks. Matters reached their peak in October with a 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in an eye-catching win at the Santiago Bernabéu, but they have since slipped to third in the table.
Hansi Flick's side have now won just one of their last seven LaLiga games, suffering heavy home defeats to La Palmas and Leganes in that period. With star striker Lamine Yamal injured and his team seemingly lacking confidence, Flick admits the Christmas break could be crucial in the Spanish league.
The German boss explained: “Now it's a break and I think everyone needs this break. After the break we will train and show how strong we are.”
“For us now, we are all disappointed with this defeat, because we played fantastic. Now we will celebrate Christmas, start training on December 29 and focus on what we can do in the next half of the season.”
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