Football fans found themselves running out of superlatives to describe Lionel Messi on Sunday night as the Barcelona star completed a stunning hat-trick with a quite brilliant finish.
Ernesto Valverde’s men extended their lead at the top of La Liga to 10 points with a 4-1 victory over Real Betis at the Benito Villamarin on Sunday night.
Naturally, Messi was the star of the show, putting his side two goals up in the first half with a wonderful free-kick and a smart finish.
Luis Suarez added a third before Messi sealed the victory with a strike that even had the home fans standing and chanting his name.
Ivan Rakitic cut the ball back to the edge of the box where Messi was waiting to produce a delicate left-footed chip over goalkeeper Pau Lopez, who was not off his line.
Viewers quickly took to social media to fawn over the goal, claiming it further cemented the 31-year-old’s status as the greatest player of all time.
“Are you kidding me?” one fan wrote. “This may be the best first touch goal I’ve ever seen. Messi is amazing.”
Another simply tweeted,”’I’m not entirely sure Messi’s third obeyed the laws of Physics.”
Even Messi was quite taken aback by the response of the Betis fans, saying, “I cannot remember anything like this before and I’m very grateful for the fans’ reaction. I’m very grateful to them and happy for the victory, which was very important.”
Source:AFP
