The Dutchman burst through the middle of the pitch and laid the ball off for Messi to dribble into the net for an 18th league goal of the season, extending his lead at the top of the scoring charts.
Barcelona forwards Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi fired the Catalans to a confidence-boosting 2-0 win at in-form Sevilla on Saturday to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.
A round-up of Saturday's action in La Liga and the Bundesliga.
With one point from the match, the Highlanders are placed joint second with ATK Mohun Bagan on 10 points
Southampton took the lead at St Mary's in the 18th minute after Dusan Tadic finished off a fine team move but, just before the break, Everton levelled with a bolt from the blue as Iceland's Gylfi Sigurdsson thundered a strike from distance in off the crossbar, his first league goal for the club.
India were made to toil hard by the world No 2 Australia before eventually losing the match in a close encounter.
India's Anirban Lahiri, playing in his second Olympics, got off to a solid start, carding a 4-under 67 in the first round and was placed tied 8th at the weather-hit Games' golf competition, at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Tokyo, on Thursday.
Lionel Messi was at the top of his game as Barcelona earned a 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday to move up to third in La Liga.
Virat Kohli slammed an unbeaten 90 before a collective effort by the Indian bowlers gave the visitors a resounding start in the Twenty20 series against Australia with a 37-run victory in the first match in Adelaide, on Tuesday.
Why do Innovation Revolutions happen outside India, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Images from Sunday's action in the Premier League.
Becomes only the 3rd Indian batsman to be in the top-10 in all formats of the game; Rahane at career-best fifth
Champions Liverpool are five points clear at the top of the Premier League after a 7-0 away hammering of Crystal Palace while Arsenal's troubles continued with a 2-1 defeat at second-placed Everton on Saturday.
Images from the matches played across football leagues in Europe on Sunday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Paris St Germain's second-string side were held to a 4-4 draw at struggling Amiens after erasing a three-goal deficit only to concede a stoppage time-equaliser in Ligue 1 on Saturday. The result left PSG 13 points clear of second-placed Olympique de Marseille after manager Thomas Tuchel rested several regular starters ahead of Tuesday's first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash with Borussia Dortmund.
Rani had bettered her own national record with a throw of 63.24m during the Federation Cup in March before a performance of 62.83m in the National Inter-State Championships this week.
Sanjay B Jumaani, India's leading astro-numerologist, makes his predictions.
How Nadal surpassed the haul of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Sindhu, who is currently competing at the French Open in Paris, jumped one rung to stay one spot behind Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, who continues to dominate the rankings.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday night
'The politics of Goa is moving around a sole entity, which is land.'
Not since Stan Wawrinka's 2016 US Open triumph has a Grand Slam been won by someone other than the 'Big Three', winners of the last 13 major titles.
Rafa Benitez's much-changed side with a youthful streak had looked set to coast through when Sean Longstaff's deflected shot put them ahead after 56 seconds and Callum Roberts volleyed home a second four years since his only other Newcastle appearance.
India captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma maintained their supremacy at the top of the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, occupying the first and second spots respectively in the latest list released on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old Kohli scored 62 and six not out to move to 833 points, within 14 points of England's Joe Root in a list led by Australia captain Steve Smith.
Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, failing to make it past the group stage of the competition for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
Images from Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
The Indian hockey team ended their Australia trip on a disappointing note, losing both their matches against a development squad. The Sandeep Singh-led side, which had gone down 3-5 to the Australian Development squad on Tuesday night, lost 2-5 on Wednesday, their second straight defeat at the hands of the squad, coached by Ric Charlesworth.
Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw, who had played his first game in first class cricket after serving a eight-month ban for doping, smashed a quick 66 off 62 balls against Baroda. A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 18th goal of the season to inspire Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain to a comprehensive 3-0 victory at 10-man Stade Brest which lifted them three points clear at the top on Friday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice as Paris St Germain made up for their midweek Champions League defeat by crushing Toulouse 5-0 to stretch their Ligue 1 lead to 13 points on Saturday.
IMAGES from Day 8 of the French Open at Roland Garros on Sunday.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Tottenham Hotspur missed the chance to move up to provisional fourth place in the Premier League after relegation-threatened Newcastle United held them to a 2-2 draw with a late equaliser from substitute Joe Willock at St James' Park on Sunday. Images from EPL matches played on Sunday.
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga and Ligue 1.
Get the latest updates from all the action in South Africa.
Favourites Punjab won the inaugural National Under-17 Hockey Championship for boys, defeating hosts Mumbai 2-1 in the final at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Jeev Milkha Singh finished his campaign at the 141st Open Championships rather tamely with a three-over 73 that ended with a double bogey on the 18th in Lytham, England, on Sunday.
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