Barcelona dropped points to Villarreal on Sunday after a 1-1 draw, but they have Lionel Messi to thank for keeping their fading La Liga title hopes alive. With Villarreal leading 1-0 in the 90th minute, Messi stepped forward to deliver another fantastic free kick.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, Messi has scored on 12 direct free kicks for club and country, moving him into the upper echelon of dead ball specialists.
Ray Hudson wasn't on this game for BeIN Sports, but he should have been, because WOW.
Sadly, this game probably won't count for anything because the second leg is at the Camp Nou and Barcelona are Barcelona. But it was fun, so it should be appreciated.
Athletic Bilbao opened the scoring, to the surprise of everyone.
Samuel Umtiti has only played half a season for Barcelona, so it's a shame he has to retire now.
Look at what Lionel Messi did to hin in training.
Never mind the double nutmeg at the end. The double nutmeg was cool, but not as cool as Messi causing a grown man, one of the best defenders in the world, to flop around like a fish out of water.
First grade is a time of personal discovery. At six years of age, it's a time when children learn simple things like raising their hands, not interrupting the speaker and respecting the feelings of others. It’s a time of collaboration, sharing and complex learning in different subject areas.
Unless your Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, whose elementary experience is, according to his father, like braving the comment section of any soccer website — the one place where you'll never find co-operation, manners and mutual respect.
The Barcelona and Real Madrid attacking trios of MSN and BBC took to Instagram to show us how they celebrated the New Year. From all of us at The18, we wish you nothing but the best for 2017!
Lionel Messi
Almost every FC Barcelona YouTube video, given the talent at the club, is worth a view. However, every once in a very long while, they release a video starring Lionel Messi during his La Masia days. These are particularly important because they showcase the unreasonable talents of a goofy looking 14-year-old with control like Diego Maradona.
It's talent like this that saw Messi rapidly progress through the club's ranks, making his first team debut as a 16-year-old.