After easily getting 1st in their group, Barcelona got Chelsea in the UCL R16, the hardest rival they could've gotten. Messi had recently recovered from a thigh muscle strain which left him sidelined for 10 days, so he probably wasn't even at 100%, but he still got started on that February 22nd of 2006.
In his first actions of the game, he got a shot on target which Cech saved, won a foul, stole a ball from Lampard, and made a great pass in the box which didn't end up converted. He later received a brutal foul on his knee from Del Horno that wasn't even called a foul by the referee, but later got justice as Del Horno tackled him again and he received a red card this time. Despite these constant attacks on him, he remained firm on the game.
In the second half, he first made a shot on target, then a good pass inside the box that found nobody, a shot that hit the crossbar, and then received a foul inside the box from Terry not given. Clearly, despite the referee not being on his side, he was the best player on the pitch, and he later received high praise from multiple media outlets regarding his performance.
Afterward, he was in ESM's Team of the Month, ESM's Team of the Season, won the FIFPro Young Player of the Year, the World Soccer Young Player of the Year, got nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year, and most importantly, got nominated for the 2006 Ballon d'Or, where someone voted him as the 4th best player in the world behind Cannavaro, Buffon and Henry, quite a big achievement and proof that people already saw him as one of the best players in the world at that time.
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