Pep delight with mercurial Messi

Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola praised Lionel Messi after his brace moved him equal with the club’s all-time second scorer Laszlo Kubala.

Messi was sublime in the Catalan’s 5-0 rout of BATE Borisov in Group E of the Champions League on Wednesday, with his double propelling him to 194 goals for Barcelona – a staggering feat at the age of just 24.

Guardiola said the only way he would not catch all-time leading scorer Cesar Rodriguez (235 goals) would be if he left the La Liga club.

“(Messi) has equalled a legendary player for Barcelona, and he has done it at just 24 years old. I can’t say anything more, only congratulate him,” Guardiola told Yahoo Sport.

Messi, now in his eighth season with the club, could have surpassed the mark against Sporting Gijon on Sunday but said he was proud to do so in the Champions League.

“I am very happy to have equalled a man who was so important in the history of this club,” Messi said.

“I knew that I could match Kubala, but I didn’t go out tonight thinking about scoring goals, nothing of the sort, just playing like always.”

Barcelona were comfortable throughout and pounced on a litany of defensive and goalkeeping errors from the Belarusian outfit, with Guardiola surprised at the home side’s approach.

“We faced a team that played very far back in defence, and we were lucky enough to score early,” Guardiola said.

“I didn’t expect they would play so defensively. It was one of those games that if you don’t score early, you get nervous.”

Shell-shocked BATE counterpart Viktor Goncharenko could not hide his disappointment but said the experience, despite the manner of the loss, would be a worthwhile one for his team.

“We’ve played the best team in the world,” he said. “We failed to defend strong or attack hard. The game was mostly in our box and we couldn’t change this situation. But it was a helpful experience.”