An initially frustrating outing ended in two goals for Lionel Messi and three points for Barcelona against Espanyol on Saturday.
Match Reports
Blaugrana captain Messi had missed Argentina's midweek friendly with Morocco and revealed he has been managing a pelvic injury since December, but he was available for LaLiga action and typically netted both goals.
The forward carried Barca's chief threat as he moved past Andres Iniesta into second place on the club's all-time appearance list, yet he may not have broken the deadlock had Sanchez not foolishly directed a 71st-minute free-kick into his own net.
Player Ratings
Match Events
9' First chance for Barca! Messi's shot saved
Alba's excellent through-ball finds Messi running towards the goalline. The Argentine's in a tight spot but gets a shot away with some nifty footwork - luckily for the visitors it's blocked.
40' A horrible deflection almost gifts Messi a goal!
Rosales' block of a through-ball bobbles kindly to an offside Messi, who flashes a shot wide of Diego Lopez's left-hand post!
60' CHANCE! Malcom's shot saved
Espanyol are staying organised but Barca are ramping up the pressure. Malcom races down the inside-left and forces Diego Lopez to tip his shot wide! The corner leads to an Espanyol goal-kick.
71' GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol (Messi)
That was delightful. Messi steps up and delicately floats a free-kick towards goal. Sanchez drops back onto the goalline but can't head it away. Simply divine.
88' GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Espanyol (Messi)
Messi is just too good. Malcom picks up the ball wide left and cuts back for Messi, who arrows the ball low into the far corner. We'll miss him when he's gone.
Line-ups
Barcelona XI: L. Messi, L. Suárez, Piqué, I. Rakitić, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Philippe Coutinho, M. ter Stegen, Lenglet, Semedo, Arthur
Subs: Prince, Vidal, S.Roberto, S. Umtiti, Carles Aleñá, Malcom, Iñaki Peña
Espanyol XI: Diego López, Rosales, Granero, V.Sánchez, Naldo, Borja Iglesias, Hermoso, Lluís López, M.Roca, Adrià Pedrosa, Melendo
Subs: Roberto Jiménez, S.García, H.Pérez, Dídac , J.López, Wu Lei, Alfa Semedo
Tijane_Alcantara
582
Messi: ”I have a lot of energy and years left of my career. I will try to play football as long as possible, I am not thinking about retiring. Those who don't like me will have to wait longer.” THE WORDS OF THE GOATS 🐐 🐐 🐐 🐐
Messidona10
369
Lionel messi knows people will make comments about him for being in Argentina and loosing games. He knows he would be in middle of pressure ...even then he continues to play for the country. Champions league is going on , La liga spot we have to maintain...and with that groin injury he still wanted to play for Argentina...even if thats Friendly. He knows that even argentinian teamates will do mistakes still people will criticize him only. Unlike Higuain and others who already gave up and left thier country . Messi still is truthful and Believes in Argentina and himself. None of anyones comments matter to a man of that hieghts. He is so loyal. Anyone in his situation and age wouldve given up as footballer. But he still will play copa america . Haters cant see these things...but we who love him can see his desire.
ManCityAreChampions
340
What else can I say about this alien...
getup_its5am
294
Coutinho looked better today. He seemed like he wanted to play this game, wanted to impress, wanted to entertain. Obviously it wasn't his best game ever but there were some positive bits and pieces here and there. Let's hope he can keep on improving until he's back to his wonderful best Btw Malcom has had a solid game without being amazing but he definitely needs more playing time
footballfanatic7298
268
And now we have Panenka free kick!!! 12 years I have been watching Messi. Is he going to stop amazing me?
Apostle1
243
Lenglet is my man of the match. absolutely brilliant performance. he is really giving Umtiti a tough time in getting back to the starting 11.
chekwasi
242
in emergency🆘🚑 call him Messi and he will show no mercy against the emergency situation.
Kynfalkon
227
match analysis:: Messi invented panenka freekick to mock panenka's penalty----Malcom plays like alba----semedo dembouzing around-------coutinho impressive.
Koybcdekmz
198
now messi is compare with team
hysonwayne
168
You can hate Messi all you want but believe he'll keep proving everyday that he's the best #🐐 #freekick
Koybcdekmz
163
Pele:messi doesn't score free kick with head
Ziondepro
156
Do we have any player dreaming or even contesting with Leo this season on this 4 awards > FIFA Best player > Ballon D'or > Golden shoe > Pinchich If there is any, please save your energy for next season, this season is fully occupied by the G.O.A.T.
LMSEN
132
Lionel Messi, the Edison of football wins it with his new invention panenka free kick 😅😅
SouravCRseven
131
You Messi fans should praise Messi for his brilliance rather than thinking new ways to compare him with Ronaldo.. Idk how people even like ur comments
kartiklm10cr7
130
Not next to alien but same to alien
Desmondeyum
121
Messi doesn't only score paneka penalties but freekicks tooo
Sureshshettiyar
62
The REASON BEHIND MESSI'S FREE KICK. .. BUT TODAY'S FREE KICK WAS A PANENKA IT'S TOTALLY INCREDIBLE. ... SIMPLY THE G.O.A.T. ..
Phrankiee
48
Chinese people tuned to watch Lei wu but all they saw was Lei Messi
Gamexpert1122
47
It’s unbelievable how amazing messi is even at the age of 31 he has that number in the league with 9 games to go. I hope he reaches the 40 goal mark in laliga. And yeah balondor loading...
lord sunny789
45
Can't found the Chinese messi but found the real one
allfootballuser
44
how to stop messi when he scoring freekicks
Irfan19
44
Today was the Lionel Messi show
30210588(deleted)
44
Messi again with an unforeseen PANEKA freekick.... Real GOAT......
devbat52
44
Sanchez thought he is going to trick Messi But Messi instead tricked him That's THE LITTLE GENIUS FOR YOU
DzekoDienQdoh
38
others scored panenka penalty whereas Messi scored panenka free-kick. that's the difference between Messi and others.
Kareem_10
37
great game by Coutinho and Malcom hope they keep it up
MkD30
37
It's official, Messi just invented a new kind of free kick.... The Panenka Free kick
Barcelona-Arsenal
29
wow messi.... first 25 minutes he shuts up all his critics with his dribbling performance messi gets fouled just on the edge of the box by Victor sanchez, denying a goal scoring chance. the ensuing freekick he smacks it off of Victor sanchez and into the net to score Credit to busi for blocking the vision of sanchez, he knew he would run back and so blocked his line of sight Lenglet improving each match malcom showing he deserves more chances alba and semedo were superb, suarez and coutinho need to do more
Saugat Panta
27
Next year in All football there will be flashback of thisday 30 March as ☞☟ Magical Messi😍 scores PANENKA Freekick against Espanyol. No one ever heard about PANENKA Freekick till date and this Little Magician Messi shows us how to do that 💕
Mundiklory
8
can you please tell me total penalty goal scored by messi in all competition vs cr7?
Can you please tell me the amount of goals CR7 has scored this season compared to messi?
shivamhanda
8
Ha-ha!! That would be funny If we talk about Argentina's Messi here.. No hard feelings just saying..
without messi argentina is nothing....messi took them to 4 finals
Messilista
8
he may be best in laliga but Ronaldo is best in world he has scored goals per game and Messi dosen't even come close to goals per game ratio of 1+ of Ronaldo in laliga who prooved it's far more easy than EPL,tell Messi to perform in the toughest league,Champions league like Ronaldo does every match
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You are backing up a man as worlds best who didn’t even best in his own league!!! And, pls check Messis goal ratio in total and also in UCL. You have to remember we are talking about the best player not the best scorer.