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Messi passes another milestone as Barca ease 15 clear

February 16, 2013 -- Updated 2310 GMT (0710 HKT)
On song, yet again. Lionel Messi scored his 300th goal for Barcelona on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Granada.
On song, yet again. Lionel Messi scored his 300th goal for Barcelona on Saturday in a 2-1 win over Granada.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Lionel Messi continues to rewrite record books with more landmarks passed for Barcelona
  • Argentine scores 300th and 301st goal for Catalan club in 2-1 win to take season tally to 36 in league
  • Juventus crash to 1-0 defeat at Roma Serie A; Napoli can close gap to two points with win on Sunday
  • League leaders travel to Napoli for top-of-the-table clash on March 1

(CNN) -- Lionel Messi scored his 300th goal for Barcelona then promptly scored his 301st as the La Liga leaders came from behind to beat Granada 2-1 on Saturday.

The Argentine pounced when Granada keeper Tono could only parry a Cesc Fabregas drive in the 50th minute to level the scores after Nigeria striker Odion Ighalo has given the home side the lead in the 26th minute.

The poacher then turned game-winner 17 minutes from the end, curling a free kick over the wall and past the flailing hand of Toto to register his 36th goal of the Barca's league campaign.

Read: U.S. soccer star 'comes out' as gay

'El Tigre' Falcao on the hunt for goals
Lionel Messi breaks goal scoring record
Lionel Messi celebrates after matching Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year, netting in the 16th minute of Barcelona's match against Real Betis. Just nine minutes later the Argentina star passed the German's 1972 milestone. Lionel Messi celebrates after matching Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals in a calendar year, netting in the 16th minute of Barcelona's match against Real Betis. Just nine minutes later the Argentina star passed the German's 1972 milestone.
Messi beats Muller
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Messi has now scored in the last 14 league games to help the Catalans to a 15-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid who travel to Valladolid on Sunday.

Neighbors, Real Madrid -- who are third in the table -- also play on Sunday, hosting sixth-place Rayo Vallecano.

In Saturday's other games, Getafe beat relegation-threatened Celta Vigo 3-1 to climb to 11th in the table.

Malaga remain in fourth place after a 1-0 win over struggling Athletic Bilbao -- who have won only once in the last eight league games.

Read: Arsenal slump to cup defeat

Over in Serie A, league leaders Juventus lost for the second time this year going down 1-0 at Roma.

The Giallorossi, who sacked coach Zdenek Zeman at the beginning of February, finally ended a miserable league run in 2013 (two points from six games) thanks to a 58th minute goal from Francesco Totti.

Interim manager Aurelio Andreazzoli had said before the game that his team "won't lack commitment" against the Italian champions and so it proved as Roma arrested their freefall down the table and instead climb to seventh above Udinese and Catania -- ahead of their games against Genoa and Bologna on Sunday.

Read: Juventus leaves Celtic's Champions League dream in tatters

Juventus stay five points clear at the top, but if Napoli beat Sampdoria on Sunday the gap will close to two points and make the league leaders trip to the Stadio San Paulo on March 1 an even more mouth-watering prospect.

In Serie A's other Saturday fixture, Chievo drew 1-1 with relegation-threatened Palermo.

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