Lionel Messi celebrated the birth of his second son by coming off the bench to score the winner as Barcelona came from behind to claim a vital 2-1 win away at Atletico Madrid on Saturday (Sep 12).
Real Madrid remain two points behind Barca at the top of the table after Cristiano Ronaldo became the club's all-time leading scorer in La Liga with five goals in a 6-0 rout of Espanyol.
Messi started on the sidelines having missed training on Friday to attend the birth, a day after returning from international duty.
However, he was still to make the decisive contribution as he nonchalantly flicked home the winner 11 minutes from time after Neymar had cancelled out Fernando Torres's opener.
Even without Messi, Barca were the dominant side early on at the Calderon with Ivan Rakitic forcing Jan Oblak into the first serious save of the game with a fierce drive from a narrow angle.
The former Manchester United man's five-goal haul takes him ahead of Madrid legends Raul and Alfredo di Stefano to become the club's all-time leading scorer in La Liga with 330 goals.
"Someone who scores so many goals has their place in history forever like Raul or Di Stefano," said Madrid boss Rafael Benitez.
"I think we are speaking of three historic players and I hope Cristiano continues adding to his tally for his good and the good of the team."
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