Messi continues to make history

Tito Villanova’s squad, led by Messi, have taken 34 points from a possible 36 in La Liga. Barça’s victory over Zaragoza, the eleventh this season, gave us plenty of interesting stats too:

- Barça have scored 39 goals in the opening 12 league matches -an average of 3.25 per game. This represents the best scoring record of the last 30 seasons.

- His two goals against Zaragoza mean that Leo Messi has equalled Santillana’s tally of 186 league goals and so reached ninth place in the all-time ranking.

-Messi has scored 78 of those goals in 2012 and is fast approaching Müller’s total of 85 in 1972. The Argentine has scored seven in his last nine appearances against Zaragoza.

-Thanks to his double strike on Saturday, Messi overtakes Di Stéfano in the ranking of players scoring twice in league matches with 55 two-goal appearances. Zarra occupies top spot with 76.

- Alex Song scored for the first time since joining Barça, becoming the 12th player to score for the Club this season. Mascherano, Bartra and Dos Santos are the only players yet to get off the mark.

- Piqué and Puyol lined up at the heart of the Barça defence for the third time this season following on from the matches against Pamplona and Getafe. They haven’t partnered each other in the Camp Nou since last season’s CL semi-final against Chelsea.

- With Cesc starting the Zaragoza game on the subs bench, Victor Valdés is the only Barça player to have featured in the starting line-up of the 12 league matches played so far.

- Montoya enjoyed his first Camp Nou start of the season. The young fullback had previously made the initial line-up in the away games against Getafe, Deportivo, Rayo and Alavés (Cup).

- David Villa has never lost in the 12 games he has played against former club Zaragoza – a total of 8 wins and 4 draws.

- Barça’s fullbacks have made a major attacking contribution with eight goal assists - three apiece from Alba and Montoya, and one each from Alves and Adriano.

- Barça and Zaragoza have contested 59 league matches in the Camp Nou, with 46 wins for Barça, eleven draws and just two wins for the visitors. The last Barça defeat was in the 1965/66 season (0-1).