Lionel Messi is on the wheels and is currently showing why he should be rated top of Juventus star Christiano Ronaldo.
The Barcelona superstar is currently experiencing some of the best form of his entire career and before entering the international break, scored a stunning hat-trick against Real Betis.
As a result – give or take Argentina’s defeat to Venezuela – there was great optimism surrounding Messi’s next game and the derby with Espanyol marked his return to club football.
However, considering the Argentine has amassed more goals and assists than anyone else in Europe, he made a slow start to the game by his incredible standards.
The Blaugrana struggled to breakdown their fellow Catalan club, marching towards half-time at 0-0 and ensuring that Ernesto Valverde needed to rally the troops.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Messi from producing his latest batch of magic moments.
First, it was a ruthless piece of skill from the 31-year-old that left Espanyol’s Marc Roca crawling across the Nou Camp pitch.
Fan footage emerged showing Messi picking up the ball in the final third and proceeding to toy with marker having been quickly closed down.
However, Messi produced a far more incredible moment a few minutes later, when he added yet another free-kick goal to his remarkable record this season.
Football fans have become accustomed to seeing the Barcelona magician whipping strikes past the goalkeeper but this particular effort was very different.
In fact, it has become christened a ‘Panenka free-kick’ with Messi deftly floating the ball over the wall and – via a slight deflection – past Diego Lopez between the sticks.
The best free-kick taker in the world, no doubt.