Lionel Messi strikes twice as Barcelona beat Villarreal

The Barcelona superstar is, without causing World War III, *PERHAPS* the greatest to ever play the game we all love.

Vazquez then hit the bar and Casemiro somehow shot over with the goal at his mercy as Madrid's dominance of the first 45 minutes left some Granada fans in tears.

Important to note: if Barcelona and Real Madrid end the season level on points, Barcelona will win the league due to a better head-to-head record, and they can thank their number 10 for that.

Villarreal drew the last two matches it played against Barcelona, but it hasn't beaten the Catalan club since 2008.

With Ronaldo resting for the Champions League semifinals, a Madrid side full of second-choice players had no trouble dealing Granada a fifth loss in a row under new coach Tony Adams.

Suarez completed the set of that trio by joining Neymar and Messi on the scoresheet with just over 20 minutes remaining, hammering a low strike past Fernandez after beating his marker inside the penalty area.

This is the third season in a row the MSN have scored over 100 goals.

Original Messi only managed to score nine goals in the league for Barca throughout the whole season, which is genuinely quite unusual.

However, Villarreal were to restore parity, just after the half-hour mark when Cedric Bakambu beat the Barcelona offside trap, raced on and beat ter Stegen easily.

"They are perfectly organised with the ball, capable of generating danger in the associative game and at the defensive level they defend very well, folded in their own side, they generate difficulties and create offensive transitions", he said.

It was down to Messi to put Barca back in front on the stroke of halftime with a trademark goal which saw him swerve past two defenders before sending a diagonal shot, which got a big deflection off a defender to take it past Fernandez.

However, the Spain global returned to training earlier this week and should be ready to start against Villarreal alongside Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and co.

Atletico Madrid's 1-0 win at home to Eibar on Saturday afternoon was not an unexpected or particularly dramatic result in isolation, but the way it was earned showed just how much coach Diego Simeone and his men want Champions League football next season. The captain was rested for the 7-1 victory against relegated Osasuna and missed the following 3-0 win over Espanyol due to a muscle injury.

Barcelona is anticipated to face Las Palmas on May 14.

Carlos Carmona gave them a first victory in eight that moved them within three points of 17th-placed Leganes.

Villarreal is five points behind fourth-place Sevilla, the last team now securing a Champions League spot.