#3 UEFA Super Cup
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UEFA Super Cup is a match contested between the Champions League winners and Europa League winners of a particular year. We just talked about how Lionel Messi inspired his club to three Champions League trophies, so obviously, he has also played in three UEFA Super Cup matches. And apart from that he has also played in another Super Cup match in 2006, when Barcelona beat Arsenal to win the lift the Champions League, however, Messi did not feature for the Catalan giants in the final but he played the entire 90 minutes in their UEFA Super Cup match against Sevilla.
The Blaugrana succumbed to a 3-0 defeat in the game and the then 19-year-old didn’t have much influence on the game, but that was the only Super Cup match in which he failed to have a decisive impact. The 5 time Balon d'Or winner made sure that his team won the cup in their next three attempts, i.e. in 2009, 2011 and 2015.
In the 2009 Super Cup match against Shakhtar Donetsk, the Argentine’s brilliance paved the way for a Pedro goal which was enough to seal the game for the Camp Nou outfit. He was awarded the Man of the Match for his performance on the night and he recorded two shots (one on target) during the game, while also providing two key passes to his teammates.
Once again, the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner put on an amazing performance in Barcelona’s next Super Cup match against Porto in 2011. The Argentine scored the opener before assisting Fabregas’ goal to help the Blaugrana record a 2-0 win against the Portuguese club. His only shot of the match rippled the back of the net, while he also made 2 key passes of which one was the assist for the second goal.
The 29-year-old’s last Super Cup appearances came against Sevilla last year, with the game ending in a 5-4 victory for Barcelona. In the goal-fest, Messi was declared as the Man of the Match for his two goals – both from free-kicks. Messi made a total of 8 shots out of which 4 were on target (2 of those shots rattled the back of the net). The Argentine missed a chance to score a hat-trick after his penalty was saved by the Sevilla goalkeeper, but it was Messi’s shot in the 115th minute which was parried away by Beto, that led to the winner for Barcelona as Pedro scored the rebound.
