Top 5 players who almost single-handedly defeated Real Madrid

#2 Leo Messi

The most famous Lionel Messi celebration of all time

Leo Messi doesn't just score goals against Real Madrid, he does that with passion. The Argentinian hardly fails to deliver in what happens to be the toughest club game in the world.

When it comes to the number of times he destroyed Barca's bitter rivals, Messi will definitely have a lot of memories to cherish and talk about. His two hattricks against Madrid, a 6-2 win in 2009, Barca's 5-0 humbling of Real Madrid in 2010 and so on.

For the record, Messi is the highest goalscorer (25 goals) and assist maker (14 assists) in the history of the El Clasico. Alongside Paulino Alcantara, he remains one of the only two players to net a hattrick twice against Los Merengues.

However, the game we are talking here contains perhaps the most iconic Leo Messi celebration up to date. Remember him silencing the Bernabeu after a stoppage-time winner in 2017?

The Barca forward scored a brace in that fixture. His first goal was a fine individual effort, cancelling out Madrid's 1-0 lead through Casemiro. Rakitic then put La Blaugrana forward, only to see Los Merengues equalising them with a James Rodriguez strike. As the game went down to the wire, Messi rose to the occasion and netted a winner in the last minute.

Real Madrid had tried dirty tackles and all sorts of other tricks to stop the diminutive Argentinian but emerged as losers at the end.

As for Leo Messi, is there a set of words enough to describe his greatness? Hard to find.