AS.com

At the Camp Nou tomorrow La Liga's top scorers will measure up against each other. Messi already has 23 league goals this term, Falcao 16. It has taken the Argentine 1,350 minutes to reach that number: in other words, a goal every 59 minutes, while the Colombian forward has taken 1,218, finding the back of the net every 76 minutes. Both players have 39 goals between them, more than the rest of the first division teams with the exception of Barça.

Both players have been decisive for their clubs, scoring almost half the number of goals of their respective teams. Messi has scored 46 per cent of Barcelona's goals and 'El Tigre' 45.7 per cent of Atlético's. The Barça forward has faced the 'colchoneros' 12 times, winning eight and losing four, more defeats than against any other first division opponent. Nevertheless, he has also scored the highest number of goals against the side from the Madrid capital, finding the net 15 times. Falcao, on the other hand, has only played against Barça twice, and although he lost on both occasions he did manage to get on the score sheet in the home game in the Calderón.

Both go into the game 'on fire': Messi has scored braces in his last five games, while Falcao scored a whopping five times against Deportivo La Coruña.