SUMMARY
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MADRID, Spain – Lionel Messi scored his 500th career goal but it wasn’t enough to prevent Barcelona’s incredible slump in form from continuing with a fourth defeat in 5 games, 2-1, at home to Valencia on Monday, April 18.
Atletico Madrid are now level on 76 points with Barca at the top of La Liga with 5 games remaining as they beat Granada 3-0, but the Catalans retain the lead thanks to their superior head-to-head record.
Third-placed Real Madrid are also only a point behind thanks to their 5-1 win at Getafe on Saturday.
Valencia were beaten 7-0 by Barca on their last trip to the Camp Nou just two months ago, but gained revenge thanks to Ivan Rakitic’s own goal and Santi Mina’s classy finish before half-time.
Messi ended a 5-game goal drought to bring up his 500th for club and country, but couldn’t inspire a Barca fightback as their alarming collapse in recent weeks continued after a 39-game unbeaten run.
Having looked well set for a second consecutive treble just two weeks ago, Barca could now miss out on all 3 major trophies as they were dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico in midweek and have taken just one point from their last four La Liga games. – Rappler.com
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