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In helping Barcelona thrash Real Sociedad 6-1 on Sunday, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann also became the best attacking duo in La Liga this season.
Between them, Messi and Griezmann have scored 28 goals and have 15 assists for Barcelona in La Liga this season. Atletico Madrid duo Luis Suarez and Marcos Llorente are second with 27 goals and 10 assists between them. They are followed by Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal and Alexander Isak, who have racked up a combined 22 goals and eight assists.
Last night's romp over Sociedad made it 11 wins and one draw in 12 league games since the turn of the calendar year for Ronald Koeman's side. Their run has put them bang in the mix in the La Liga title race.
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Barcelona are now four points behind Atletico Madrid, and with ten games to play this season, will fancy their chances of catching up with Los Rojiblancos.
The Blaugrana have also scored 32 goals in those 12 league games that they have played this calendar year, with Messi and Griezmann playing a direct part in 24 of those 32 goals.
Lionel Messi extends lead in race for Pichichi Trophy
In that 6-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday, Lionel Messi scored twice to extend his lead in the race for the Pichichi Trophy. The Argentine superstar has 21 goals and eight assists this season. Atletico Madrid's Luis Suarez, who has 19 goals so far this season, is second at the moment.
Karim Benzema has 17 goals, with Gerard Moreno having 16, in a tight race for the Pichichi this season.
For Koeman and Messi, though, the priority now will be to land some big blows in the title race that enable the Blaugrana to regain the trophy they lost to Real Madrid last season.
They also have the Copa del Rey final next month, in which they face Athletic Bilbao. In that competition, Barcelona made a sensational comeback in the semifinal against Sevilla. They lost the first leg 2-0, but roared back at the Nou Camp to win 3-0, and book their place in the final.
With a domestic double still a real possibility, it would be interesting to see how much that influences the choice of Lionel Messi, whose Barcelona contract comes to an end this summer.
