Lionel Messi produced yet another masterclass on Saturday as Barcelona beat Espanyol 2-0.

A brace from the Argentine secured victory at the Camp Nou and both goals were fantastic in their own right.

Messi broke the deadlock in the 71st minute with a unique Panenka free-kick from 20 yards out. He soon made it 2-0 with a lovely swept finish from Malcom's cross.

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde lauded his star man after the game by saying he has "created psychosis in rival teams".

"Messi can appear at any moment and we already know about his effectiveness from dead balls," Valverde added.

"For as much as we train, we can't predict what the rivals will do [to defend him]. We don't know if they will drop someone on to the floor or drop someone back.

"It's something that happens in a split second, Messi decides [what to do] and he always gets it right. He's created psychosis in rival teams - and that's very good for us."

Messi's two goals took him to 31 for the season in La Liga, making him the clear favourite for this season's Pichichi Trophy.

The accolade is awarded by Madrid based newspaper Marca, who actually put Messi's Panenka free-kick down as a Victor Sanchez own goal in their match report.

Sanchez helped Messi's free-kick into the back of the net with his head, but it was on target and the diving goalkeeper was getting nowhere near it, so it certainly wasn't an own goal.

Here's what Marca wrote for Messi's free-kick:

"After being on the brunt end of a harsh takedown from Sanchez, Messi sculpted a free kick in which he effortlessly lofted a curling left-footed shot that Sanchez tried to clear off the goal-line.

"But with the soaring Diego Lopez coming into his periphery, the Espanyol man made a mess of it and the ball rippled the back of net for a 1-0 Barcelona lead."

Odd.