Messi hits 300th Barcelona goal in comeback win

Madrid, Feb 17 (AFP) Lionel Messi scored his 300th Barcelona goal as the Spanish league leaders came from a goal down to beat Granada 2-1 at Nuevo Los Carmenes. Odion Ighalo had prodded the hosts into a shock first-lead with virtually their first attack of the game yesterday, but Messi's moment arrived five minutes into the second period as he pounced after Tono had failed to hold Cesc Fabregas' effort. And soon after the Argentine had his 301st goal for the Catalans as he curled home a sumptuous free-kick to extend Barca's lead at the top to 15 points over Atletico Madrid. Barca assistant manager Jordi Roura had taken the opportunity to rest Andres Iniesta ahead their Champions League tie with AC Milan in midweek, whilst Xavi was again missing through injury. But despite being without either of their two midfield metronomes Barca started brightly. Messi was unsurprisingly to the fore and he slipped in Alexis Sanchez after just five minutes but the Chilean's heavy touch allowed Tono in the Granada goal to collect. Thiago then headed over and Messi nearly connected with Cesc Fabregas' knockdown at the end of a wonderful move as Barce continued to dominate, but they were rocked when Granada took the lead on 26 minutes. Carlos Aranda's excellent cross to the back post was knocked back across goal by Guilherme Siqueira and Ighalo couldn't miss when presented with an open goal five yards out. MORE AFP SSC SSC 02170958 NNNN