Barcelona 2-0 Atletico Madrid: 5 Hits and Flops

#1 Hit: Lionel Messi

Messi wheels away to celebrate his finish, ensuring the game was beyond any doubt late on

Another week, another top spot for Lionel Messi. He has now scored in six successive league games and although his cameo against Villarreal was certainly influential, you could understand Ernesto Valverde wanting to rest him fully for this intense encounter.

Atletico, despite their regression in recent seasons, have always been an overtly physical team and one that pride themselves on defensive organisation - cohesion in numbers, making it increasingly difficult to break down.

Messi was, as usual, unfazed by their approach and persisted to run at them throughout. Constantly looking for the ball in dangerous areas, as well as accelerating towards the box from deep, he had 106 touches - only Ivan Rakitic (141) had more.

His three key passes (82.4%) was a joint game-high, while he completed six dribbles and registered eight shots over the 90 minutes. He should've at least had one assist, if not two - a devilish through ball for Jordi Alba saw the fullback hit the post early on, before Suarez was denied by an excellent Oblak save in the second-half.

Eight shots and only the solitary goal isn't what you'd come to expect from the experienced Argentine, though a few were blocked and either saved well by Oblak or flashed narrowly wide of goal - like his teasing free-kick in the first-half.

His eventual finish was subtle and equally brilliant, a deft effort which glided into the bottom corner and Oblak had no chance in truth given the speed of Barca's counter-attack and Messi's sheer placement. With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spotted watching on from the stands, the Manchester United manager must be wondering how to keep Lionel quiet come Wednesday evening in their Champions League first leg tie.

Stats' source: WhoScored