Just when Barça's meeting with Deportivo had entered its most turgid stage, Leo Messi popped up to flick in a truly sublime winner and extend his record run of scoring in consecutive league matches to 17 games.

It means that Messi has now overtaken Polish player Teodor Peterek, who scored in 16 consecutive matches for Ruch Chorzow between 1937 and 1938 (according to the RSSSF data base, cited in today's edition of Sport).

Messi's overall tally in all competitions with Barça now stands at 304 goals and has taken his league total for the current season to 40. The number 10 started Saturday's match on the substitutes' bench and was brought on in the 62^nd minute of the match. It took him just 16 minutes to get his name on the score sheet after having a goal ruled out earlier for offside.