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#3 Villarreal vs Barcelona, La Liga (08/01/2017)
Lionel Messi and Barcelona did not have the greatest of starts in 2017. They started the year with a 2-1 Copa Del Rey defeat to Athletic Bilbao and were unable to chalk up their first win of the year with a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in La Liga. However, the major highlight in the draw was Lionel Messi's free-kick in the closing stages of the game.
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With Villarreal leading the game during the dying minutes of the match, Barcelona earned a free-kick on the edge of the box, giving them a chance to level the proceedings.
Lionel Messi stepped up to take the free-kick. The Argentina international, who had earlier hit the post, completely wrong-footed goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo and fired into the top-left corner to earn a draw for the Catalan giants.
Lionel Messi finished as the top scorer in the league with 37 goals although Barcelona managed to finish only second behind Real Madrid in the title race. They did, however, manage to win the Copa del Rey that season and made that remarkable come-back against PSG in Round 16 of the Champions League, before eventually losing to Juventus in the quarter-finals of the competition.
#2 Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona, La Liga (26/02/2012)
The 2011/12 season was arguably the best in terms of goals that Lionel Messi had during his Barcelona career. He scored a mind-blowing 73 goals in just 60 games during the campaign, surpassing Gerd Muller's record of most goals scored in a single season.
Amongst these goals was a sublime free-kick away to Atletico Madrid during a La Liga match. With the score tied at 1-1 going into the 81st minute, Messi made a complete fool of Thibaut Courtois by scoring into the 'wrong' top corner for a left-footer from what seemed an improbable angle.
It was a sign of Messi's incredible footballing brain to have seen Courtois close to his right post at such a late stage, allowing him to wrong-foot the lanky Belgian shot-stopper.
Barcelona ultimately lost out on the La Liga trophy to Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, but Lionel Messi ended up as the top scorer in La Liga with 50 goals and was rewarded with a 3rd consecutive Ballon d'Or for his brilliant individual campaign.
#1 Barcelona vs Liverpool, CL Semi-Final 1st leg (01/05/2019)
As good as Lionel Messi is in open play with the ball at his feet, his ability to strike a deal ball perfectly is an incredible one, and he showed it once again against Liverpool with arguably his best ever free-kick goal.
With Barcelona leading the Champions League semi-final first leg 2-0 at Camp Nou, Messi stepped out from 35 yards out with only one thought on his mind.
Messi whipped the ball into the top left corner, scoring his 600th career goal and embarrassing Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal completely while wheeling away in celebration, almost hardly believing what he'd just done himself.
Unfortunately for Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Liverpool mounted an incredible second-leg comeback at Anfield, throwing the Catalans out of the Champions League with a 4-3 win on aggregate.
Barcelona, however, managed to clinch the La Liga title and Messi ended the season with 51 goals and 21 assists in 50 outings, which helped him win his record sixth Ballon d'Or that year.
