A superb Lionel Messi leads Barcelona over Espanyol
An unplayable Lionel Messi scores twice to lead Barcelona in a rout against Espanyol in the Catalan Derby.
Lionel Messi scored two wonderful free-kick goals as Barcelona took the Catalan Derby over Espanyol in a 4-0 win. The Argentine had another inspired performance leading many to marvel at the fact he was ranked so low in the Ballon d’Or.
Jordi Alba said, “The Ballon d’Or is a lie. Leo’s unique, he’s the best ever. He’s been the best by some difference for 12, 14 years.”
Watching Messi’s game against Espanyol, you’d be hard-pressed to disagree with Alba’s comments.
Messi was inspired from the moment the game started. While he had been relatively quiet, by his standards, he rectified all that in the derby. His first free-kick goal was as perfect a free-kick as you will ever see. His second free-kick goal, from the other side, was another sight to see.
But Messi wasn’t solely limited to scoring goals.
In between his free-kicks, he provided an assist to Ousmane Dembele for Barcelona’s second goal. It was a wonderful finish from the Frenchman but it would not have been possible if not for Messi. The Argentine battled for the ball just outside the penalty box. He had the Espanyol defenders scrambling and he was even on the ground a few times. It was the second time he came up that he spotted Dembele and the rest was another highlight reel.
Luis Suarez added a goal of his own but the story of the match was Messi. In addition to his brilliant performance, he became the first player in La Liga to score ten or more goals in thirteen consecutive seasons.
https://twitter.com/goal/status/1071530950310404097
If that wasn’t enough, the Argentine has now scored 19 free-kick goals in the last four years, which is more than any other team, let alone player, in Europe’s top five leagues.
The argument’s been made that Messi is held to higher standards than any other player and what’s seen as an “average” performance by him, it’s a career performance by any other player. Judging by the Ballon d’Or voting and how we’ve all seem to become used to Messi doing things like this, the argument certainly has some truth to it.
Related Story. 5 things learned from Barcelona’s thumping win over Espanyol. light
In addition to the record and stat mentioned above, he now moves atop the goal scoring table with eleven goals, tied with Girona’s Cristhian Stuani. Not bad for the fifth-best player in the world, eh?