Lionel Messi has now scored 650 goals in his legendary career.
By now, you know the prototypical Messi goal. Cutting in from the right side, the Argentine curls a perfectly placed shot with his left foot into the far corner. Occasionally he’ll score on a deft chip or smash a low shot before a goalie can react and lately he’s been unstoppable on free kicks.
But on Saturday, Messi scored two goals in spectacular fashion, neither of which followed his usual MO — and then one more that was vintage Messi as he singlehandedly beat Sevilla with one of those performances that makes you wonder if this man is even human as he so often does.
Messi had three goals and an assist to help Barcelona rally for a 4-2 victory over Sevilla at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Saturday.
Barcelona wasn’t up to full speed in the first half, perhaps looking past LaLiga’s fifth-place team ahead of the Copa del Rey El Clasico second leg in four days time. Luckily, Messi was still Messi.
The home side went ahead in the 22nd minute through Jesus Navas and again led 2-1 thanks to Gabriel Mercado. But Messi didn’t let his team stay in the malaise that has seen Barça win just one of its last five matches.
Messi’s first strike looked more like something teammate Luis Suarez would score, the No. 10 smashing a wicked volley that showed the 31-year-old still has plenty of athleticism in his body.
His second, which evened the score at 2-2 in the 67th minute, was another unusual goal in that he scored with his right foot. Messi doesn’t necessarily avoid using his weaker foot, but his left foot is so magical it’s rare for him to need to score with the right.
But when the ball fell to him in the box with his team trailing, he didn’t hesitate to unleash another well-placed shot, a bit reminiscent of a Philippe Countinho strike.
Messi completed his hat trick — and finally put Barcelona in the lead — in the 85th minute with a goal more typical of the finesse forward.
The Argentine was first to react to a deflected shot in the box and deftly flicked the ball past Tomás Vaclík in goal.
That was Messi’s 650th goal of his remarkable career and his 50th hat trick, four with Barça and six with Argentina.
Lionel Messi is just something else...
650 goals
227 assists
50 hat-tricks
x 9 La Liga
x 6 Copa del Rey
x 7 Supercopa de Espana
x 4 Champions League
x 3 Super Cup
x 3 Club World Cup
x 1 Gold medalFootballing royalty. #Barca pic.twitter.com/TbictoTF9j
— Sky Bet (@SkyBet) February 23, 2019
But Messi wasn’t done.
Having gotten his hat trick — and the three points — he helped Luis Suarez get off his snide, setting up the Uruguayan for his first goal in more than a month with a beautiful assist.
With that, Barcelona went 10 points clear of Atlético Madrid, which plays Villarreal on Sunday, and 12 ahead of Real Madrid, which plays Levante on Sunday.
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