Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Lionel Messi is playing pretty well at the moment.Heading into Sunday’s matchup between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou, the Argentinian had scored in eight straight matches.Of course, he was going to make it nine in a row.But he had to from behind as Valencia raced into a 2-0 lead at the home of the Spanish champions.Kevin Gameiro and Dani Parejo scored in the 24th and 32nd minute respectively to stun the Blaugrana.The hosts needed a swift response and they got one, Messi converting from the penalty spot after Nelson Semedo was fouled.And he grabbed a second in the 64th minute with a quite superb strike from outside the area.

Messi's passionate celebration 

Arturo Vidal flicked the ball to Messi, who took one touch to set himself up before unleashing an effort beyond Neto in the Valencia goal.

Aside from the quality of the strike, football fans also enjoyed Messi’s reaction.

The passion was clear for all to see.

Barcelona were unable to find a winner but they stay top of La Liga on 50 minutes.

But Atletico Madrid, currently six points behind, can close the gap when they take on Real Betis on Sunday.

There is a genuine battle on at the top of the pile but Barcelona have to be the favourites with Messi in this kind of form.

His brace means he has scored 21 goals in 20 league matches and you have to go back to December 2 for the last league game that he failed to score in.

Ernesto Valverde’s side are going to be very hard to stop with Messi playing at this level.