Ole honours Messi, Barcelona

Argentina’s biggest sports newspaper Ole was renamed on Wednesday to mark Lionel Messi becoming the highest scorer in Barcelona history.

Messi, 24, scored a hat-trick in the Catalans’ 5-3 victory over Granada on Tuesday, thus surpassing Cesar Rodriguez as the club’s top scorer in official matches. The Argentine has now netted 234 times for the La Liga powerhouse.

Copies of Ole appeared on newsstands the following morning with the title of the newspaper altered, reading Cule instead of Ole, in reference to the traditional nickname of the Barcelona faithful.

The rest of the page is filled with a picture of the Rosario native, as well as a message from the editor praising his achievement at one of the world’s biggest clubs.

“To Messi what was once Cesar’s. With yesterday’s three goals he reached 234 with Barcelona and is now the highest scorer in the club’s history. Ole today feels like one more Barsa (typical Argentine shortened spelling for the Catalan club) fan, and will shout its homage from the logo of this front page. Congratulations,” the statement reads.

Messi will have the chance to extend his lead at the top of the scoring charts at the weekend, when Barcelona meet Mallorca in La Liga.