Top 5 times Messi saved Barcelona late in the game
Lionel Messi is the man of the moment – when is he not anyway? The Argentine is such an essential cog for Barcelona that without him, they are almost useless. This comes after the Catalans have spent a fortune on players like Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho and yet, when the Argentina captain didn’t start against Sevilla, the Blaugrana were on the brink of losing.
It wasn’t the first time that he had saved the Cules from certain defeat and it definitely won’t be the last time. Before the list just grows bigger and bigger, here are the five times when Lionel Messi saved Barcelona in the final few minutes of a game.
#5 Hat-trick against Real Madrid
This was the day when the Madridistas knew that this man would go on to weave more haunting memories in the tapestry of their minds. As if Ronaldinho’s torture wasn’t enough, the Blancos now had to worry about a young Argentine that was touted to be the heir of the dancing Brazilian.
As it turned out, Madrid were winning 2-3 with only a few minutes left on the clock. Normal time was already over and the match was in its tense final moments in the injury time. Marcelo was tracking Messi when Ronaldinho spotted the Argentine and passed it to him.
Messi received the ball and just ran diagonally towards the far corner. He ran, ran and ran and left the Madrid defenders burning in his trail. As he neared the goal, he spotted an opening the far post with the corner of his eye and shot the ball towards it with vehemence.
And the rest, as they say, is history.