Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi continued to marvel fans as Barcelona shrugged off No. 17 Real Valladolid yesterday in La Liga (3:0) to move 8 points clear of Real Madrid in the standings.

Messi scored the last goal to stretch his goalscoring run to 7 straight games. His FTBL score has soared to 340.86 points, and it will continue to do so if he keeps on scoring: for example, he will add approximately 38 points on top of the team bonus if he scores just one goal in his next appearance.

In the game against Sporting Gijón, Messi will face a plank of 25.64 points to beat in our system. His overall score could increase to 370 points if he scores again.

Messi has now beaten the record FTBL score of 333.72 points established by Atlético Madrid’s Uruguayan international Diego Forlán last May. The absolute record of 366.71 points is still held by Real Madrid’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. He hit that score in April of 2008.