A pitch invader at Barcelona's behind-closed-doors win at Mallorca has spoken about his "dream" of having a photo with Lionel Messi after seeing the striker break another record by scoring on his side's return to Liga action.
Free of the minor injury concerns that had troubled him after returning to training, Messi continued his formidable record against Mallorca by scoring for the seventh successive match against them, including two hat-tricks and a total of 12 goals.
Yet another Liga record tumbled as he became the first player to score at least 20 goals in 12 Liga seasons as part of a 25-goal total in all competitions so far this season that includes finding the net or providing an assist in 15 of the team’s last 18 goals.
Third-bottom Mallorca might have thought they had at least ended their dire run of conceding goals by Messi, only for the striker, who had earlier set up Martin Braithwaite's first league goal for the club and a Jordi Alba strike, to make it 4-0 with a deflected effort seconds before the end of the visitors' win.
The most talked-about moment of the match arrived in the 54th minute. Despite fans being banned from attending matches as part of health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, a Messi admirer in the colors of the top-scorer's homeland amazed viewers around the world by evading security and running onto the pitch at Son Moix, carrying a camera with which he hoped to secure a selfie.
"I planned it before the coronavirus," the French Mallorca fan told Mundo and a local radio station. "I arrived with friends in the 40th minute. I climbed a two-meter fence, got into the stands and went down the stairs to the field."
The encroacher, who was not wearing any protective clothing of the kind advised by public health officials, came within touching distance of Messi before being grabbed and led away by security staff in gloves and masks.
"Messi is my idol. I wanted the photo with Messi but in the end I didn't take anything," he added.
"I was screaming, 'Messi, the photo, Messi, the photo.' It was a beautiful experience. My dream is to have a photo with him and meet him.
"I saw Jordi Alba and I [took a selfie] with him. Later I went to Messi, but due to the virus he wouldn’t take a photo.
"Then the police made me remove everything. My plan failed because of my nerves. They made me delete the photo and sign a document with my details. They will tell me if there is a fine or not."
Commentators joked that Mallorca would be punished by having to play their next match behind closed doors, although some newspaper reports suggested that the club could face genuine sanctions from La Liga over the safety lapse.
Barca have now been top of the table for 15 weeks and are five points clear of Real Madrid ahead of their arch-rivals' home game against lowly Eibar on Sunday evening.
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