Messi: Teamwork is key to success

Posted Saturday, November 05, 2011 by ESPN

Barcelona's star striker Lionel Messi believes that the Catalan club's success is largely due to the players getting along with each other.

Ballon d'Or nominee Messi credits the large proportion of their first team players coming through the ranks of the famed La Masia youth academy as one of the main factors for Barcelona's extended success.

Messi himself has spent his time in the Barcelona B team with current teammates Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique and he feels that knowing each other from before helps the team chemistry on the pitch.

He told the club's official website: "It's fundamental that we get along as a team, to have a group of players that play this well isn't easy to find.

"We've known each other for years and we've always gotten along, this is why we've performed so well."

Having scored his 200th goal for the club in the Champions League clash against Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday, Messi looks likely to break Cesar Rodriguez's record of 235 goals over his career at Barcelona.

At the rate that he has started this season with 22 goals in 17 matches, Messi will likely break the record before the end of the campaign.

The Argentina international feels that he may be up to it, though he will not be gunning for the record specifically.

He continued: "I feel great physically, strong enough to play as many games as possible, like last year, I'm not aiming to break the record this year. I hope to do it someday seeing that I want to stay here for the rest of my career."

Messi also insisted that he is not distracted with the milestone he achieved midweek and the focus is on this weekend's visit to San Mames, where Barcelona will play Athletic Bilbao.

"The most important thing is to win the three points this weekend because it's a very difficult stadium to win at. The opponent [Athletic Bilbao] is a great team, they study their rivals in depth, and they aren't afraid to take the game to you," added Messi.