BARCELONA, Spain, September 26 – Lionel Messi is determined to keep breaking goal-scoring records at Barcelona after his 12th career hat-trick for the European and Spanish champions took him to 192 at the club.
The 24-year-old Argentine magician hit his latest hat-trick in the 5-0 demolition of Atletico Madrid and is now just two behind Hungary’s Laszlo Kubala who scored 194 in his career at the Camp Nou in the 1950s.
Once he gets past that, the all-time club record of 235, set by Cesar Rodriguez betwen 1939 and 1955, will be easily within his sights.
“I’m pretty calm about it. I just take it a game at a time, but obviously I’m very excited about becoming top scorer,” Messi told fcbarcelona.com.
“Many years have gone by and it’s still the same player (Kubala). Hopefully I can beat his stats. I want to continue breaking records here”.
Atletico are his favourite victims with 14 goals scored against the Madrid side, including three hat-tricks.
Barcelona have racked up 22 goals in five La Liga games this season, but Messi insists there is still room for improvement, especially getting used to playing a 3-4-3 system that coach Pep Guardiola has chosen.
“We feel pretty comfortable with it. There are some things we still aren’t doing well, just like with the previous system, but that’s OK,” he said.
“It takes time and practice. We still aren’t totally used to it. Personally I’m pretty happy, because up front we have more space and we can link up better with the midfield players, and receive more passes.”
