Cometh the hour, cometh the man.The onus is always on Lionel Messi to inspire Barcelona and he did just that against Napoli on Saturday night.Barça had already taken the lead at Camp Nou thanks to Clement Lenglet’s 10th-minute header from an Ivan Rakitic corner.But a moment of individual brilliance from Messi doubled the Catalan club’s advantage in the 23rd minute.Messi received the ball on the right-hand side of the pitch and slalomed his way past three opponents before picking out the far corner with a wonderful finish.
The Argentine, who is desperate to win the Champions League for the first time since 2015, scored despite falling over twice.Even when he finally took the shot, he was off balance but still managed to bend the ball expertly past Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina.Watch Messi’s brilliant goal here…
Diego Maradona, Napoli’s greatest ever player, would have been proud of that one.
As this tweet says: “He doesn't dive, he doesn't give up. Lionel Messi is the name.”
Genius!
Messi then scored another fantastic goal moments later but the goal was ruled out by VAR for a handball.