Messi's 200th Spanish League Appearance Celebrated by 4 Goals

It was hard to believe that the match between FC Barcelona and Valencia on 19th February 2012 marked Lionel Messi's 200th Spanish league appearance. It hardly seemed any time at all since he had been a young 17-year-old making occasional first team appearances and showing what a talent he was going to be; but nobody thought that his talent was so big. Since his first appearance in 2004 he has matured immensely, but despite his talent he has remained modest and unassuming.

Valencia started the weekend nine points behind Barcelona, who themselves were 10 points behind Real Madrid. However, Real Madrid beat Racing Santander 4-0 on the Saturday and so Sunday's match saw Barcelona 13 points behind their arch-rival.

Ways to Liven Up You Awards Ceremony With Customised Football Trophies

This article looks at some of the fun ways you can show your team mates some appreciation at sports presentation. It provides some good and fun ideas on football trophies that you can give to the special members of your team.

Trophies are an important part of any sport including football, at the end of a tournament there will be a prize giving including football trophies. By giving out trophies people have something to remember the day with a feeling of pride, even more so if they won.

However, if you decide to customise your trophies you will make it that little bit more special. It is possible to customise trophies on many levels, from having a recipient's name engraved on the bottom, to having an entire trophy created in whatever form you want. It can often be more costly but will be treasured for a long time.

Around the English Premier League - Round 23

The Round 13 fixtures were played between January 31st and February 1st, with five matches played each day. On the first day the Premier's top 4 clubs had their encounters and no matter what their final score was they had their spot safe. However the Citizens have been left at the mercy of the Red Devils once more, as they were tied a month ago at 45pts and now are at 54pts. On the other hand Tottenham keeps following United's steps with just 5 points behind, while Chelsea carries 42pts and now has to beware of the Toons.

Manchester City went west to visit Everton on Tuesday and even though it looked like an easy rival for the leaders of the board, the Toffees managed to surprise Mancini's side on the field and conquered 3 more points to move from the 14th to the 10th spot. During the first half Samir Nasri and Denis Stracqualursi missed their chances to get on the score sheet, for Nasri the problem was that a ball hit the bar and for the Argentinean it was a great shot that got cleared-off. However the most booed person of the first half was a spectator that caused a 5-minute delay, when few minutes before the end of first half the man entered the field and handcuffed himself to Hart's post. Be that as it may the match continued and as second half started it was clear that the Toffees were strengthen, while City was missing Touré Yaya that has left a hole in the middle field. The opportunity came at 59' when the former Red Devil, Darron Gibson, scored his first goal since he transferred to Everton on January 13th. There was nothing left to do after 1-0 and the Toffees took revenge for their defeat on the 1st leg game against the Citizens.