When Messi got his first GOAT shout

March 21st, 2010. Messi had recently won a Ballon d'Or and was one of, if not the best player in the 2009/10 season so far. Barcelona was in a very tight race with Real Madrid, with 65 points each in 26 games played. Barcelona faced Real Zaragoza away and looked to continue the race and overtake Real Madrid.

Only 4 minutes in, he scored with a good header after a cross from Pedro, giving Barça the lead. Later in the second half, he won the ball from Ander Herrera, got past Jarošík, tricked Contini and got past him as well, and made a powerful shot to the opposite post that went in. This goal would later be nominated for the Puskás Award. He then made a great pass to Zlatan to open goal but he missed this. Fortunately, he scored shortly after with an out-the-box shot to the near post to seal his hat-trick. Near the end of the game, he flicked Ponzio and got inside the box, got past Contini, and after sidestepping Jarošík, he got fouled by Contini, winning a penalty. Instead of taking it and getting his hat-trick, he gave it to Zlatan, who slotted it in and consolidated Barça's 4-2 win.

His stats from the game were: 3 goals, 1 non-Opta assist (penalty won), 4 SoT (8 in total), 0.59 xG, 12 dribbles out of 14, 2 key passes, 0.79 xA, 1 aerial duel won out of 2, 2 tackles, 26 passes out of 30, and 69 touches, a perfect 10/10 performance.

The press went insane after that fantastic performance, with the titles "God of football", "Brutal Messi", "Messi from another world", "He invents football every day", "Supermessi scores 8 goals in a week", "Another masterpiece from Messi", "Messi is from another galaxy "," Maradonian exhibition from the Nº 10 of Barca, who signs another hat-trick " and" What a way to make plays with the ball tied to the feet ". And even more impressive, Joan Laporta, Barcelona's president, said "Messi is the best player in the world and in history", as per numerous sources. Despite being only 22 years old, Messi had already been named the best player in history by someone as important as Laporta.

Barcelona ended up winning the league by 3 points over Real Madrid, so those 3 points won in this game were crucial to winning the league title. And later, he won the Ballon d'Or for the second time, showing the world his greatness. I hoped you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.