BARCELONA, Mar 16 (Agencies): Lionel Messi celebrated his record-equalling 767th appearance for Barcelona by scoring two goals in a 4-1 La Liga victory over Huesca which helped the Catalans to move within four points of the top of the table on Monday.
Spectacular first-half strikes by Messi and Antoine Griezmann from long-range appeared to have put Barca in the driving seat with the visitors rarely threatening.
However, Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was adjudged to have felled Rafa Mir on the stroke of halftime as the forward attacked a cross. He picked himself up to net the penalty and halve the deficit against the run of play.
A first goal for the club by defender Oscar Mingueza restored Barca's two-goal cushion eight minutes after the restart as he nodded in a Messi corner.
Mir then missed a golden chance to pull one back when he contrived to head over from close range moments later, and was made to pay as Messi rounded off the win in the final minute of normal time with a deflected effort.
"I've always said there's all to play for in the league title race," Barca coach Ronaldo Koeman said.
"We've bounced back well after dropping points early on in the season. The side are looking good and we are confident we can fight for the trophy.
"It's a great result to build on. We were good in the first-half and we kept our intensity up in the second, too.
"We can't afford to drop any more points because we've already dropped quite a lot."
The victory lifted Barca to 59 points in second place, four behind table-toppers Atletico Madrid.
Huesca, meanwhile, remain bottom of the table on 20 points, four from safety.
Messi equalled Xavi Hernandez's all-time appearance record for Barcelona.
Messi should break Xavi's record on Sunday against Real Sociedad and the club toasted his achievement with a video that included tributes from numerous current and former team-mates including Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Neymar, Andres Iniesta, Carlos Puyol and Xavi himself.
"You're still breaking records," said Suarez. "I think this one says a lot about you as a player and what you represent for Barcelona."
"We think you're extraordinary, something from another planet," said Neymar.
Koeman played Frenkie de Jong again in the centre of a back three but he was replaced in the second half by Ronald Araujo, whose return from injury should also be a major boost to Barca during the run-in.
Messi rose to the occasion in the 13th minute. He darted back to receive a pass from Busquets and flicked his first touch around the sliding Jorge Pulido. The ball was still spinning when he tapped it forward and whipped a shot that flew off the crossbar and in.
Barcelona were dominant and Jordi Alba thrashed a shot against the crossbar before Griezmann made it two, played into space by Pedri and driving another thundering effort into the same corner Messi had picked out.
