Saturday's El Clasico once again belonged to Barcelona's Lionel Messi.The Argentine didn't have the best opening 45 minutes admittedly, but when play resumed he came to life and dominated proceedings at the Bernabeu.Real Madrid losing Dani Carvajal in the 63rd minute certainly helped, of course, and the penalty he gave away presented Messi the opportunity to make it 2-0.And he did just that, finding the top-right corner to beat Keylor Navas and break all kinds of records in the process.Here are the FIVE milestones he achieved:
- Most goals for a single club in Europe's top five leagues (526, surpassing Gerd Muller)
- Most goals in El Clasico history
- Most assists in El Clasico history
- Most goals scored against Real Madrid in history
- Only player to score over 15 goals in 10 consecutive La Liga seasons
What a player. Messi has been nigh-on unstoppable for Barcelona this season, yet it was his rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the 2017 Ballon d'Or earlier this month.
Messi and Ronaldo have been fighting for supremacy for a decade now and Ronaldo's recent Ballon d'Or success means they now have five awards each.
Everyone has their own opinion on who is better out of the two, but Gary Lineker is in no doubt that it's Messi.
Being a former Barcelona player, Lineker watched Saturday's El Clasico and he once again declared Messi as football's greatest of all time following the 3-0 win.
And soon after, he questioned why Ronaldo won the 2017 Ballon d'Or despite Messi arguably having a superior individual year.
Lineker's tweet caused a major stir, with two journalists deciding to pick fights with the Match of the Day presenter. It didn't end well.
In the tweets below, Lineker shuts them both down by making excellent points about the difference between Messi and Ronaldo.
ONE DOWN...
"Is it for the best player or the best player of the most successful team? I love Ronaldo but Messi is a better footballer," responded Lineker.
...TWO DOWN
"Don't get upset. I get your point but you miss mine. Fact is Messi is the best passer, dribbler, goal scorer and player in the game," he retorted.
No one can take anything away from what Ronaldo has achieved this year with Real Madrid, which includes winning La Liga and scoring a brace in the Champions League final.
But in terms of 2017 as a whole, has the Portuguese been better than Messi? Perhaps not - and let's face it, the Ballon d'Or is supposed to be measured on individual merits, not collective.