Messi thanks Barcelona coach Guardiola

Messi's hat-trick against Atletico Madrid on Saturday night took his tally of league goals for the season to 24 and helped Barcelona to a record 16th consecutive league win, beating the previous best held by Real Madrid in the 1960-61 season.

It was Messi's fourth hat-trick of the season and has invited the inevitable comparisons with Alfredo Di Stefano, the captain of the 1960-61 Madrid side.

"It is an honor to have beaten the record set by Di Stefano's Madrid," said Messi in Monday' s edition of El Mundo Deportivo.

"I never saw Di Stefano play, but I know he was one of the greats of the game and I feel proud to be compared to him, although I still have to continue to improve," added Messi.

"However, we have to continue like this, because Real Madrid will be pushing us for the title until the end of the season, so we can't allow ourselves to think we have done everything just because we have set a new record," he added.

Guardiola has stated on several occasions that Barcelona would not be the team it is without the contributions of its star player and Messi took the opportunity to return the compliment; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010 for full version