Magical Messi on target in 500th match for Barca

Barcelona - Catalan Club signs off 2015 in style by topping La Liga table

 Lionel Messi scored in his 500th match for Barcelona to help them ease past Real Betis 4-0 late on Wednesday and ensure they kept the lead of the Spanish league to conclude a superb year for the Catalan club.
Barcelona broke a run of consecutive draws in the league to cap one of their best years in club history. Before kickoff Andres Iniesta paraded their recently won Club World Cup trophy, their fifth title won in 2015. The four goals scored took their year's tally to 180, bettering Madrid's milestone of 178 from 2014.
Messi recovered from a hard knock with Antonio Adan that was ruled a penalty against the Betis goalkeeper, by scoring Barcelona's second goal, after an own goal put the Catalan side on its way.
"It was a strange game. I don't know if it was a penalty or not, when I was hit I didn't realise what had happened," Messi said about the collision with Adan that left him on the ground and momentarily silenced the Camp Nou.
While Messi was being examined by team doctors, Neymar stepped up to take the penalty, only to send his shot off the crossbar. Betis defender Heiko Westermann disputed the rebound with two Barcelona players, but he ended up batting it into his own net just before the half-hour mark.
Three minutes later, Messi played Neymar through with a long pass that he returned for the club's all-time leading scorer to notch his 425th club goal.
Betis coach Pepe Mel was sent off for protesting moments later, and his team never showed signs of mounting a comeback.
Luis Suarez scored twice after halftime to take over from Neymar as the competition's leading scorer with 15, and only the woodwork - which Messi, Neymar, and Dani Alves all hit in the second half - saved Betis from an even bigger loss.
With a game still to play, Luis Enrique's team leads La Liga on goal difference from Atletico Madrid, who scored twice in the final four minutes to win 2-0 at crosstown rivals Rayo Vallecano.
Angel Correa finished off a flowing buildup engineered by fellow substitute Thomas Partey to break the deadlock in the 87th, and Antoine Griezmann struck again in the 90th.
Cristiano Ronaldo helped Real Madrid remain two points behind the pacesetters after he missed one penalty before converting a second spot kick and adding another goal to lead a 3-1 win over injury-ravaged Real Sociedad.
The win took some pressure off beleaguered coach Rafa Benitez, who was jeered by some of the Santiago Bernabeu crowd for Madrid's erratic form this season when his name was announced before the match.
"(Ronaldo) accepted the responsibility after the missed penalty and put the team on his back," Benitez said.
Both Sociedad midfielder Sergio Canales and team top-scorer Imanol Agirretxe were carried off on stretchers in the first half.