Lionel Messi was playing a different sport to everybody else during the first-half of Granada vs Barcelona.

The serial Ballon d'Or winner has come under fire at times this season, having failed to amass more goals in 2020 than Cristiano Ronaldo and taking inordinately long to find the net from open play.

But underestimate one of the greatest footballers of all time at your peril because even claims of a Barcelona exit can't keep Messi quiet for long - and that was more than apparent on Saturday night.

Messi shines vs Granada

Barcelona were looking to continue their newly-improved form in recent weeks with a trip to Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes in La Liga and it only took them 12 minutes to race into the lead.

It was former Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann who provided the finishing touch, lashing a left-footed effort into the bottom corner after Roberto Soldado ensured he was onside.

However, Griezmann was merely laying down the red carpet for Messi himself, who moved clear in the race for the Pichichi Trophy with his 10th and 11th goals in La Liga this season.

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Messi's top-corner finish

First, the Argentine superstar found the net with a stunning top-corner strike after Barca raced from one end of the pitch to the other - check out that moment of composure down below:

Ending his free-kick drought

Then, Messi reminded everybody why he's arguably the best free-kick taker in the world by ending his drought with a canny finish into the bottom corner, which you can enjoy in all its glory here:

Water is wet. Grass is green. Messi is incredible.

Underrated 2020/21 form

It's arguably the most emphatic reminder yet that Messi isn't having the sort of poor season that certain tracts of social media narrative would have you believe.

Lest we forget that Messi has statistically been the best player in Europe's top five leagues throughout the 2020/21 campaign, according to data collected by WhoScored.com.

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However, even those skeptical of stats can only pour so much water on Messi's form because the eye-test spoke for itself this weekend as the 33-year-old ran circles around Granada.