Despite all the criticism leveled at Lionel Messi when playing in an Argentina shirt, he starred in his nation's first game of the World Cup as Argentina beat Nigeria by a goal to nil.

It was an unlikely source as Argentina took the lead inside just 6 minutes. A wicked corner by Veron was headed in by defender Gabriel Heinze to get Diego Maradona's men off to the perfect start.

Argentina were in command for almost the entirety of the game as Messi and Tevez's jinking runs caused Nigeria's defense all sorts of problems. It was Messi who was particularly impressive, often carving his way through the opposition defense, but failing to beat goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.

In the end it was Enyeama who was named man-of-the-match after a string of world-class saves, several of those preventing Messi from scoring his first of this campaign.

Messi and Argentina will take great confidence from today's match and they will now be considered by many as one of the tournament favorites given their wealth of attacking options.

Barcelona were crowned champions of La Liga, defeating Valladolid by a convincing four goals to nil as Lionel Messi scored yet another brace.

Barcelona knew that three points would guarantee them the league and their nerves were evident from the early stages. A poor first touch from Valdes almost led to a goal from Valladolid on the 4th minute, but captain Carles Puyol cleared the ball off the line.

The breakthrough came on the 27th minute. Some good work out wide by Pedro saw the ball turned into his own goal by Prieto.

Pedro turned scorer four minutes later courtesy of a through ball from Messi. Pedro raced onto it and drilled the ball through the goalkeeper's legs.

Then it was Messi's turn to equal Ronaldo's incredible club record of 34 league goals in a La Liga season. He did so by scoring his first on the 62nd minute. Yaya Toure rounded the goalkeeper and unselfishly pulled the ball across goal leaving Messi with an easy tap in.

Messi's second goal in the 76th minute was more typical of him this season. It was another sublime effort as he beat two players with ease and found the corner of the goal with little to aim at. It was Messi's 34th league goal and 47th of the season, a quite incredible tally.

Barcelona were crowned La Liga winners with rivals Real Madrid only managing a draw with Malaga. Lionel Messi has capped an incredible season with all his goals and assists and is surely in line once again to be crowned the world's best player.

Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's opening goal as they won magnificently away at Sevilla by three goals to two.

Barcelona knew that anything less than three points would probably cost them the title and their endeavour was clear from very early on.

Unsurprisingly, it was the world's best, Lionel Messi, who opened the scoring for Barcelona. Some great work by Maxwell led to Messi having the ball 16 yards from goal. He drilled the ball low into the corner to give him his 32nd league goal and 45th goal of the season, just two away from Ronaldo's record in 1996-97.

Bojan doubled the lead for Barcelona shortly afterwards, steering the ball past the despairing keeper.

Pedro then made it 3 after half time following some great work by Messi.

Kanoute and Fabiano scored two quick goals in the space of three minutes, which gave Barcelona a scare at the end, but they hung on for another vital three points after Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao by 5 goals to 1.

Barcelona's final game of the season is at home to Valladolid next week.

Lionel Messi was once again the driving force behind another great team performance as Barcelona convincingly beat Tenerife by four goals to one.

Messi scored another two goals in tonight's La Liga match at the Nou Camp, bringing his goal total so far this season to a staggering 31.

Messi opened the scoring in rainy conditions on the 17th minute. A great cross from Dani Alves was headed down by Zlatan Ibrahimovic across goal. Messi was quickest to react and dinked the ball over the goalkeeper who was helpless.

Tenerife equalised on the 39th minute through Martinez. Puyol gave the ball away in a dangerous position and Martinez capitalised with an assured finish.

Barcelona changed their tempo in the second half and took the lead in the 63rd minute through youngster Bojan. He raced through on goal after a quality pass from Alves and sent a low drive into the corner of the goal.

The third came from substitute Pedro. Messi provided a terrific through ball and Pedro latched onto it and whacked the ball low past the goalkeeper.

The fourth and final game came in the last minute through Messi. Dani Alves once again crossed the ball and Messi took a couple of touches before placing the ball high in the goal.

Messi is almost certain to win this year's Pichichi with his 31 league goals and could even challenge Ronaldo's record of 34 goals in a season with Barcelona over 10 years ago.

Barcelona are now 4 points clear of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand.