1. Lionel Messi showed why is the best player in the world
Lionel Messi missed pre-season, and the beginning of the season. As a result, the Argentine maestro has been a little rough around the edges recently. But Messi returned to his world-conquering best against Real Valladolid, scoring a brace and providing 2 assists.
Messi’s goals were delightful, and so were his assists. His beautifully weighted ball for Arturo Vidal was exemplary, and bettered Arthur’s assist for the same player in 4-O victory against Sevilla. Just 5 minutes later, Messi opened his account for the night.
He curled in an amazing free-kick from 30 yards out, certainly his finest goal of the season so far and one of his best free-kick goals of all-time. Ex-Barça man Jordi Masip never stood a chance as the ball nestled itself into the top right corner.
Messi completed his brace with a goal in the 75th minute. After substitute Rakitić powered a ball into him, the Argentina international controlled it and turned before putting his laces through it. It rifled into the net like a bullet.
He capped his world-class performance with yet another assist a couple of minutes. Messi threaded through a defence-splitting ball for Luis Suárez. The 32-year old Uruguayan centre-forward provided a clinical finish to round the scoring for Barça.
Needless to say, Lionel Messi is back and with a bang. If he can build on this display, the likes of Slavia Prague and Leganés are in for a lot of misery.