We're quite fortunate to be living in an era which features so many incredible footballers, but for some time there's been two who have stood out above the rest. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have head and shoulders been at the top of the game and the two clearly bring out the best in each other, with them hitting new heights seemingly every week despite being over 30. On Saturday night the Argentina international recovered from the blow of missing out on a record sixth Balon d'Or by producing a man of the match performance in Barcelona's derby victory over Espanyol at the RCDE Stadium.
Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez both got on the scoresheet but Messi stole the show, scoring a brace to round off a thumping 4-0 victory. The Argentine scored 2 magnificent free-kicks, with his first in particular one of the best we've seen this season. Those goals sent Barcelona back to the top of the La Liga table and also saw Messi set an outrageous new record.
He's now scored a ridiculous total of 19 goals directly from free-kicks over the last 4 years in La Liga, that's more than ANY team in ANY of Europe's top 5 leagues. It's a simply outrageous statistic and makes the Ballon d'Or awards look pretty, as he was down in 5th position overall despite finishing as the top scorer in Europe last season.
Messi's ability from free-kicks is really something to behold and one YouTube user, Messi TheBoss, has put all 19 of his efforts together in one fantastic video. Enjoy them all below:
