Records Tumble: Cristiano Ronaldo Equals Serie A Feat in 1000th Game, Lionel Messi 1st to 1000 Goal Contributions

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrated his 1,000th professional match by scoring for a record-equalling eleventh consecutive Serie A appearance as Juventus beat SPAL 2-1 in a top-versus-bottom match.

Lionel Messi, on the other hand, became the first player to achieve over 1,000 total goal contributions with 696 goals and 306 assists.

After being rested against Brescia last week, the 35-year-old celebrated his return by scoring from Juan Cuadrado's cross in the 39th minute.

Ronaldo's goal, which took his league tally for the season to 21, meant that he joined Fabio Quagliarella and Gabriel Batistuta as the only players to have scored in 11 consecutive league appearances. Quagliarella did so for Sampdoria last season and Batistuta for Fiorentina in 94-95.

He also reached yet another milestone with his 1,000th match for club and country in a remarkable career which has seen him play for Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal.

MESSI MAGIC

With a hat trick in the first 40 minutes and another goal near the end on Saturday, Lionel Messi ended his worst scoreless run in six years in the Spanish league and put Barcelona back at the top of the standings.

Messi led Barcelona to a 5-0 rout of Eibar, their fourth league win in a row, as he ended his four-game scoreless streak in the league with a beautiful opening goal, sending the ball through the legs of defender Anaitz Arbilla and entering the area and finding the net in the 14th minute.

Messi beat Arbilla again with a run into the area before scoring the second in the 37th, and three minutes later he sealed the hat trick with an easy goal off the rebound of a shot by Antoine Griezmann.

It was the second fastest hat trick for Messi. He had one 30 minutes into a game against Mallorca in 2011.

The fourth goal came in the 87th after he cleared Arbilla and goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic to shoot into an open net.

It was the seventh time Messi scored four goals or more with Barcelona. The last one was against Eibar in the 2017-18 season.

The goals kept Messi as the league leading scorer on 18, five more than Madrid striker Karim Benzema.

Messi had been decisive for Barcelona in recent games despite the scoreless streak, helping with a series of assists. He endured an eight-match scoreless streak back in 2014.

Barcelona said the rout against Eibar allowed the team to surpass Real Madrid as the team with most goals in the history of the Spanish league - 6,151 against 6,150.

(With inputs from Agencies)