Lionel Messi: Top 5 performances of 2018/2019 (so far)

Genius. King. Alien. God. These are the words used to describe the Argentine, Lionel Messi; the best player of this generation and also one of the greatest players if not the greatest to grace the game. And why not? This season, Messi is playing on an extraterrestrial level. The man has scored 39 goals and provided 21 assists in all competitions i.e. he has been involved in 60 goals in 37 games. The closest to this number is the French boy wonder, Kylian Mbappe who has been involved in 42 goals. Mind the gap.

This season, Messi has provided us with some jaw-dropping, scintillating performances. Every football fan with a sane mind knows that there is very little that Lionel Messi can't do on a football field. He is the player with most goals, assists, freekicks, key-passes, outside the box goals in Europe.

Lionel Messi had promised the fans of Blaugrana that he will do everything possible to bring the Champions League trophy to Camp Nou. From his performances, it's clear that he is hell-bent on fulfilling his promise. Be it in the Champions League, La Liga or Copa del Rey, his performance has always been a notch above the rest.

So without much further ado, these are the top 5 performances (so far) from Lionel Messi this season:

#5 Tottenham Hotspurs vs FC Barcelona (Agg 2-4)

The second match of Barcelona in the group stage of Champions League was played at Wembley stadium. This stadium has a special place in the hearts of the players and supporters of Barcelona. This was the place where they triumphed over Manchester United to win the Champions League.

One little man was the difference between the two teams and it was Lionel Messi, the best player of that night. So obviously, fans did hope that another masterclass was going to happen and what they witnessed was beyond genius.

The diminutive Argentine was almost unplayable that night as he was above every other player on the field. Tottenham looked clueless on how to defend against Messi and that is where they lost the match. In the second minute of the match, Messi provided a pin-point long ball to Jordi Alba from the mid-line. Alba cut it back to Philippe Coutinho, who scored a scorcher. Once again, it was Messi's pass that made the difference. Pochettino's men struggled to keep up with the sheer brilliance of Messi as he scored two goals. He could have scored two more if he wasn't denied by the post twice.

Speaking about the star of the night, Pochettino said, "Messi in every game, shows why he is Messi. His average performance is this type of game, he is above everything."

#4 Levante UD vs FC Barcelona (Agg 0-5)

Levante suffered against Messi due to Pele and Ballon d'Or. Pele had claimed that Messi had only one foot, one skill and was no match for him. Adding insult to injury, he was omitted from the Ballon d'Or list. Fans expected something in return from Messi. But as we all know, he lets his feet do the talking and he did exactly that; mercilessly destroying Levante with a hat-trick and two assists. This was his first hat-trick in the La Liga this season.

Messi picked out Suarez after a mesmerizing run and the Uruguayan converted it into a goal with a thumping volley. Messi doubled the lead soon after when he latched on to Sergio Busquets' pass to finish with his "weak" foot.

Levante was rattled by Messi's ruthlessness as even after half time he quickly converted a Jordi Alba cross to take the score 3-0. Later he scored a tap-in as he was provided with an assist from Arturo Vidal after a magnificent team play. Gerard Pique too got a goal that night converting the assist by Lionel Messi himself. Messi had a "foot" in all of the five Barcelona goals that night.

Pele must be kicking himself for picking a fight with the wrong person.

#3 Sevilla FC vs FC Barcelona (Agg 2-4)

50th career hat-trick and what an important one!

Time and again whenever Barcelona are losing; every player, manager, and fans look up to Messi to rescue them. And just like other occasions, Lionel Messi once again bailed out his team. He scored his 50th career hat-trick against Sevilla, extending his goal tally against them - 36 goals in 35 games. Valverde’s side was forced to play below-par for large parts of the game and were 2-1 behind at half time. Jesus Navas opened the scoring for Sevilla in the 22nd minute. But in the 26th minute, Rakitic crossed the ball into the Sevilla penalty box and Messi struck the ball to the back of the net. This volley goal could be one of the finest goals this season. Just before the half time break, Sevilla found the back of the net and this time the goal was scored by Messi's national team compatriot, Mercado.

In the second half, Barcelona played with more determination and Valverde making some tactical changes. In the 67th minute, Messi combined well with Dembele to equalize as he curled the ball into the net with his "weak" foot. Later with only 5 minutes left for the match to end, Messi once again scored a goal, this time with a chip to complete his hat-trick. And if this wasn't enough, Messi assisted Suarez as he too chipped the ball over the goalkeeper to end the match 4-2 in the Catalan club's favour. Once again, Lionel Messi was involved in all the goals of his club.

Wissam Ben Yedder in his Instagram post said; "In this world, we might have won this game. But there's a player from another planet who wanted it otherwise. Proud of the team, we never surrender." You know you are the best when even the rivals start acknowledging your greatness.

#2 FC Barcelona vs Olympique Lyonnais (Agg 5-1)

It was one of the most important matches of Barcelona this season. The first leg against Lyon had ended in a draw. The second leg was to be played at Camp Nou. Both teams were playing with everything at stake. After Cristiano Ronaldo's incredible heroics against Atletico Madrid the night before, the pressure was mounting on Lionel Messi to perform and boy did he perform!

Messi was everywhere on the field that night. He was a constant threat to the Lyon team linking up well with Suarez and Coutinho, making runs which were forcing the Lyon backline to stretch and even allowed the opposition to surround him so as to create space for his teammates. The first goal came in the 17th minute, as Suarez rushed into Lyon penalty box only to be brought down illegally. Messi stepped up under pressure and scored a beautiful Panenka penalty to break the deadlock. The second goal of the Blaugrana was set up by Suarez who passed it to Coutinho who just had to touch the ball into the back of the net.

In the second half, Lyon started putting more pressure on the Barcelona defence. In the 58th minute, Lucas Tousart scored the goal for the French club because of a bad clearance from Busquets. Barcelona's third goal was a piece of magic scored by the magician himself. Messi picked up the ball near the halfway line, dribbled past one player, rushed into the penalty box, executed a perfect fake-shot, succeeded in sending the two defenders to the wrong way. He finished off his run with a shot from his "weak" foot into the left bottom corner of the net. Gerard Pique seeing that momentum was with Barcelona also started making forward runs. One of his runs was seen by Messi. Leo once again dribbled into the penalty box, shot a low cross towards Pique who only had to pass the ball into the net. Ousmane Dembele, the substitute also scored a goal by nutmegging the keeper. The assist once again belonged to Messi.

Nabil Fekir commented, "We played a good game, but history's best player made it impossible for us. When he's not scoring, he's assisting. When he's not assisting, he's play-making. It was impossible. He is impossible."

2 goals and 2 assists. A normal day in the life of Lionel Messi.

#1 Real Betis vs FC Barcelona (Agg 1-4)

Very few players in modern football have received the privilege of being recognized and applauded from away fans and at the opposition team's home. Lionel Messi is one of the few players who has twice received such a stellar response from two different sets of fans. He first received a standing ovation from Atletico Madrid fans during the 2008/09 season. And the second one from the Real Betis fans at the Benito Villamarin stadium this week. The best player in the world scored his 51st career hat-trick against them. Part of what made the hat-trick against Betis special, however, was the way in which each goal was different. It displayed the wealth of resources that the Barcelona captain has at his disposal.

His first goal of the night came in the form of a world-class free-kick. The devilish curl on the ball sucked the breath out of every person in the stadium. The goalkeeper, Pau Lopez made an effort to try and stop the ball but his effort was in vain. The power of the shot made it impossible for him to stop it from finding the back of the net.

His second goal was a result of his one-twos with Suarez. The Barcelona no. 10 passed the ball to the Barcelona no. 9 and made the run. Suarez waited patiently for Messi to reach the desired position and then with a killer instinct passed the ball back to Messi ausing his backheel. Using his "weak' foot Leo shot the ball past the keeper. Messi created plentiful chances for Suarez to convert. But Suarez failed in doing so. Later in the 63rd minute, Suarez scored a wonderful solo goal, the kind which would make Messi proud.

Barcelona's fourth, Lionel Messi's third and most special goal of the night came in the 85th minute. Messi picked up the ball, made a run to the centre of the pitch, passing it to Rakitic, and ran into the box, Rakitic passed the ball back to Messi who with his first touch chipped the ball over Pau Lopez. Note that Pau Lopez is over 6.2 feet tall and Messi chipped from around 20 yards. The television cameras almost immediately zoomed to Lopez, who was in disbelief at what had just happened. "What a beast" the Spaniard seemed to mutter to himself.

“There’s not much you can do against Messi” Betis striker Loren Morón said. So Betis fans did the only thing that felt right: Not much except applaud: as the ball went in, all around the ground, the Betis’s fans – began to clap, 54,172 people on their feet. Thousands of them were chanting Messi’s name, bowing before him, being privileged to witness such divine presence amongst them.

“I’ve seen great players do wonderful things but not with the consistency and the ability to decide everything that Messi has. I don’t know if even Pelé had this consistency,” Setien said. “It’s every game, every single one. You feel lucky to have been around at the same time as him; to be able to watch him every Sunday.” And this isn't even the end of the season. Barcelona still has 10 games in league, a Copa Del Rey final and Champions League ties against Manchester United.

Remarkably, he is now averaging a goal or assist every 53 minutes over all competitions. But again, you don’t need to get drawn into statistics with Lionel Messi. All you have to do is enjoy watching him play, as the man who has perfected the beautiful game weaves his magic all over the ground. Nobody else comes even close.

Edited by Nnanna Mba