El Clasico 2016/17: Real Madrid 2-3 Barcelona - The Best & Worst Players

Best Player: Lionel Messi

#GOAT

Following Barcelona's unceremonious exit from the UEFA Champions League, for the first-time ever there were talks about Lionel Messi’s apparent decline. The Argentine shut up his critics in style, despite being bruised and battered by a ruthless Madrid side.

The 5-time Ballon d’Or winner bust open his mouth after colliding with Marcelo's elbow in the early exchanges of the game and was left bleeding profusely on the pitch, with reports indicating that he might have lost a tooth or two. He suffered a similar fate midweek against Juventus when he was planted on the ground face first and was carrying a black eye courtesy of it.

However, all this didn’t slow him down one bit as he huffed and puffed and jinked past Madrid players at will and scored the two crucial goals. Not only did he just do that, he ran the show from midfield, dropping deep to orchestrate attacks while running at the Madrid defence at will.

Casemiro’s early booking for a foul on Messi shackled the Brazilian and didn’t allow him to have the same effect on the game, while Ramos’ two-footed lunge on him looked to be the game changer before Messi hit Madrid with the sucker punch with the last kick of the game, effectively silencing the Santiago Bernabeu.