Will Lionel Messi stop scoring?

        
       

Messi, Messi, Messi: With another hat trick, Lionel Messi sets Barcelona’s scoring record

BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi broke Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year-old Barcelona career scoring record, getting his eighth hat trick of the season in a 5-3 Spanish league win over Granada on Tuesday night that increased his goals total to 234.

Messi tied Cesar’s record on a left-footed shot in the 17th minute for his 232nd goal, then chipped the goalkeeper for a 3-2 lead in the 67th. He added a goal from a tight angle in the 86th, increasing his season total to a career-best 54.

A three-time FIFA player of the year, Messi has 17 goals during a seven-game scoring streak and leads La Liga with 34 goals, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The hat trick was Messi’s 18th for Barcelona and gave him 154 goals in his last 153 games over three seasons. His six hat tricks in La Liga this season tie the record set by Ronaldo last year.

Late Monday, Barcelona announced Cesar’s total from 1942-55 was three fewer than the team previously said. A review by Barcelona’s Center of Documentation and Studies and the La Vanguardia newspaper determined Cesar did not score goals attributed to him during the 1947-48, 1948-49, 1949-50 and 1952-53 seasons and also credited him with an additional goal in 1945-46.

Barcelona’s sixth consecutive league win cut first-place Real Madrid’s lead to five points ahead of its game at Villarreal on Wednesday.

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TURIN, Italy — Mirko Vucinic scored on a 25-yard shot in the sixth minute of overtime, giving Juventus a 2-2 tie against AC Milan that advanced the hosts to the Italian Cup final on 4-3 aggregate.

Getting a rare start in his final season with Juventus, 37-year-old Alessandro Del Piero put the hosts ahead in the 28th minute. Djamel Mesbah tied the score in the 51st and second-half substitute Maxi Lopez silenced the Juventus Stadium with a powerful shot from the edge of the area in the 81st to tie the home-and-home total-goals series.

In the May 20 final, Juventus plays Napoli or Siena, which holds a 2-1 lead going into Wednesday’s second leg.

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BLACKBURN, England — Blackburn eased its relegation worries with a 2-0 home win over Sunderland in the Premier League.

Junior Hoilett scored in the 58th minute and Ayegbeni Yakubu scored his 14th league goal of the season in the 86th.

Players from both teams wore ‘Pray for Muamba’ T-shirts during the warm-up before the game in support of Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, hospitalized in intensive care following a cardiac arrest during a match on Saturday.

Blackburn (7-15-7) is 16th with 28 points, six clear of the relegation zone. Sunderland (10-12-7) is ninth with 37 points.

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FRANKFURT, Germany — Substitute Ilkay Guendogan scored on the last shot of overtime, lifting Borussia Dortmund to a 1-0 win at second division Greuther Fuerth and a berth in the German Cup final on May 12.

Guendogan’s shot from the edge of the penalty area hit a post and bounced off the back of goalkeeper Jasmin Fejzic into the net. Fejzic, known for saving penalty kicks, had entered a couple of minutes earlier with Greuther Fuerth anticipating a shootout.

Bayern Munich visits Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday in the other semifinal.

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PARIS — Champions League quarterfinalist Marseille lost its eighth straight game and was eliminated from the French Cup with a 3-2 quarterfinal defeat to non-league Quevilly. Johan Ayina scored his second goal of the game in the 119th minute after goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano spilled a cross.

Quevilly, which plays two divisions beneath Marseille in the semiprofessional National league, went ahead on Julien Valero’s sixth-minute goal. Luic Remy tied the score in the 85th, but Ayina put the hosts ahead in the 111th only for Remy to retie it two minutes later.

“I’m left with a feeling of shame,” Marseille coach Didier Deschamps said. “I’m thinking about all those poor people who came to watch us today and who support us. Our pride has taken a blow. It’s hard to accept.”

In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, PSG hosts Lyon, non-league Gazelec Ajaccio faces Montpellier and Valenciennes takes on Rennes.

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