DBasia.news – The Argentinian megastar Lionel Messi performed great bringing Barcelona won 4-0 in the Catalan Derby against Espanyol, Sunday (9/12). His performance happened just a few days after Luka Modric was chosen as 2018 Ballon d’Or winner.
In the Catalan Derby, Barcelona won 4-0 by two goals from Messi, Ousmane Dembele, and Luis Suarez. Barca are getting further from the LaLiga title race with three points higher than Sevilla and Atletico Madrid.
From one perspective, the victory wasn’t surprising because Barca are always superior to their rival. But, Messi’s two goals are extraordinary.
La Pulga scored two goals by his high accuracy free-kick to the goal of Espanyol goalkeeper Diego Lopez, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper.
At 17′, Messi kicked to the left above side. At 65′, to the left side. No matter where Messi kicked, the ball would return to that side. Only a genius player could do that.
Two goals from Messi involved him in 19 goals of Barcelona in LaLiga with 11 goals and 8 assists. The captain leads his team in his 31 to achieve all trophies this season.
“Make that 19 direct goal involvements in La Liga for Lionel Messi. 11 goals
and 8 assists. That’s five more than any other player in the competition,” @Squawka tweeted.
The two goals from his free-kick also add his free-kick goalscoring achievement to be three times, exceeds other players in Europe top leagues.
“Lionel Messi has now scored more direct free-kicks this season than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues. Lionel Messi (3), Aleksandar Kolarov (2), Granit Xhaka (2), Memphis Depay (2), and Ondrej Duda (2),” @Squawka added.
To complete his performance against Espanyol, Messi summed it with a dominant statistic: 77 touches, 44 passes, 8 take on, 4 shots on target, 2 direct free-kicks scored, 1 tackle, and 1 assist.