Yesterday, Barça was crowned Copa del Rey champions after beating Athletic Bilbao by a convincing 4-0 victory. Barcelona dominated the game, with a big chance created by Messi to De Jong hitting the post early on in the game, but there were no goals until the hour mark when Messi pre-assisted Griezmann's opener. De Jong quickly made it 2-0, and then Messi unleashed himself as he made a similar goal to the 2015 Copa del Rey final, running from behind the half way line, going to the sideline, went past a Bilbao player and ran to the attacking 3rd of the pitch, passed the ball to De Jong, got it back, passed the ball to De Jong again, and received a good through-ball, where he later got past a Bilbao player and shot it nicely to the far bottom post. After that great goal, Messi got his brace after Alba passed him the ball inside the box and Messi one-shot it into the near post.
His stats were the following: 2 goals, 1 pre-assist, 1 big chance created, 3 SoT (3 in total), 2 dribbles (4 attempted), 2 key passes, 6 ground duels won (out of 11), 3 fouls won, 1 tackle, 4 long balls (out of 4), 2 crosses attempted, 45 passes (out of 50), and 74 touches, which won him the MVP for the final. This was his performance on video:
This is his 35th (or 36th if the Olympic gold medal is counted) title in his professional career. He's also beaten Giggs for the record of most titles won with a single club. Another trophy to his massive collection, and looking onwards for more. Other records broken include: Most goals in Copa del Rey finals, beating Zarra's 8 with 9 goals - Most Copa del Rye finals played in, beating Gainza's record of 9 with 10 played yesterday (shared with Busquets) - Most goals scored in finals, beating Pelé's 29 goals with 31 goals to his name in finals - Most consecutive seasons with 30+ club goals (top5 leagues players), beating Gerd Müller's 12 consecutive seasons with 13 - Quickest brace in regular time of a Copa del Rey final, the previous record was Zuazo in only 10 minutes, but Messi did it in a span of 4 minutes.
There were also records equaled, which include: Most Copa del Rey titles, equalling Gainza's and Belauste's 7 (shared with Busquets and Piqué) - Most braces in Copa del Rey finals, equalling Campanal's 2 braces in separate Copa del Rey finals. As we can see, Messi broke and equaled a lot of records with his Copa del Rey final win yesterday.
After the end of the game, Messi took a picture with various teammates holding the trophy, queueing up just for a picture with the GOAT. Another testament to his greatness and popularity.
Revenge has been taken from the Supercopa de España final three months ago, and now, the focus shifts to La Liga once again. The race between Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona is very heated and equal, so it's vital to win every game from now on. Next games are Getafe at home and Villarreal away.
I will do an entry detailing Messi's performance in the Copa del Rey soon enough, but until then, I'll see you in the next blog.
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