Twitter explodes as magical Lionel Messi inspires Barcelona to 4-2 win over Valencia

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic celebrate a goal

Barcelona recorded a 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia courtesy of some Lionel Messi magic. Manchester City loanee Eliaquim Mangala gave Valencia the lead in the 29^th minute before Luis Suarez equalised for the hosts only a couple of minutes later. Mangala was then sent off for bringing down Suarez inside the box and Messi calmly slotted the penalty to make it 2-1.

Barcelona loanee Munir El Haddadi then equalised for the home side with the last kick of the first half. However, Luis Enrique’s side made their numerical advantage count as they piled the pressure on the Mestalla outfit in search of the winner.

Messi came up with a brilliant run and an ever better finish with his right foot to make it 3-2 in the 52^nd minute. But Barcelona still looked vulnerable on the counter and it wasn’t until the 89^th minute that they were able to seal the win when Andre Gomes tapped home Neymar’s cut-back, scoring his first-ever goal for the Blaugrana – against his former side – to complete the rout.

The win helped Barcelona close the gap on Real Madrid to only 2 points, albeit having played a game more.

Twitter, as you would expect, went wild after Messi’s magical performance. Here are the best tweets:

Some Leo Messi stats to begin with....

Lionel Messi breaks the 25-goal barrier... #FCBValencia #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/uZSjMCgX9p
— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) March 19, 2017

Lionel Messi: Man of the Match vs Valencia, Rating 9.79, Goals 2, Shots(OT) 8(4), Dribbles 8, Key Passes 5, Touches 90 @FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/YaSsz5UINe
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 19, 2017

Lionel Messi has now scored 40+ goals across all competitions in EIGHT consecutive seasons at club level.

Out of this world. pic.twitter.com/2UYsfWjNM6
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 19, 2017

Lionel Messi has scored 40+ goals in:

2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17

pic.twitter.com/m8nCJoknps
— bet365 (@bet365) March 19, 2017

Lionel Messi for Barcelona across all competitions this season:

40 games
41 goals

We are not worthy. pic.twitter.com/vbKElutZz9
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 19, 2017

.@FCBarcelona: “Messi scores 40 goals for 8th consecutive season;

09/10 47
10/11 53
11/12 73
12/13 60
13/14 41
14/15 58
15/16 41
16/17 40.” pic.twitter.com/4kF0lp2I8t
— Quotes on Messi (@MessiQuote) March 19, 2017

2 - Lionel Messi has scored his 100th brace for Barcelona in all competitions. Festivity. pic.twitter.com/zmxuiDB3ml
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 19, 2017

We truly are not worthy....

Unbelievable body feints and footwork brought to you by the one and only Leo Messi. 7 seconds of pure Alien action.pic.twitter.com/W9g5oau5pM
— FC B (@FCBdaily) March 19, 2017

Messi is just too good. Instinctive near post finish after skipping past his man.. didn't even look up.
— Arsène's Son (@hughwizzy) March 19, 2017

Nobody slices his Spam as thin as #Messi !!!
— Ray Hudson (@RayHudson) March 19, 2017

When the only thing standing between you and your hero is a bit of plastic... pic.twitter.com/zVDb7byVeD
— Leo Messi (@LeoneIMESSl) March 19, 2017

1-Messi plays a defense splitting pass

2- Teammates miss

3- Repeat
— El Máestro (@ElMaestrofcb) March 19, 2017

Leo Messi has scored in 12 of his last 14 Liga games, a total of 16 goals..
pic.twitter.com/SZrwSj3WZy
— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) March 19, 2017

Messi's since 2010

47 - 09/10
53 - 10/11
72 - 11/12
60 - 12/13
41 - 13/14
58 - 14/15
41 - 15/16
41 - 16/17

The greatest sportsman ever
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) March 19, 2017

BRACE! BRACE!

Lionel Messi scores his;

• 2nd of the match
• 18th of the year
• 43rd of the season
• 551st of his career#FCBLive pic.twitter.com/P6gQhgYbpa
— Quotes on Messi (@MessiQuote) March 19, 2017

#GOAT?

The greatest of all time. pic.twitter.com/hesL07i3Fn
— Neymar Jr. (@NeyMarvellous) March 19, 2017

The greatest trick Lionel Messi ever pulled was convincing the world that he is human. #GOAT
— Shaurya Vineet (@ShauryaVineet) March 19, 2017

Me and you cannot be... He can!

Messi's passes are just unfair. You can't be that good.
— Josip (@jperkovic93) March 19, 2017

Poor Diego Alves!

Lionel Messi: Has now scored 20 goals against Diego Alves, against no goalkeeper has he netted more in his career #FCBValencia
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 19, 2017

Ouch!

Messi creates more chances in a game than Ronaldo has decent performances in a season.
— a (@abtahaalii) March 19, 2017

When is Guardiola going to admit Messi gave him a career?
— #CarefreeDaily (@CarefreeDaily) March 19, 2017

And then the rest....

RECORD | With Umtiti in the starting XI, Barcelona STILL has lost no game in #LaLiga this season.

- 17 games
- 17 wins

''One man wall'' pic.twitter.com/F4keXtrA4g
— FC B (@FCBdaily) March 19, 2017

Munir: Has scored more league goals for Valencia this season (5) than he managed in his 2 full league campaigns with Barcelona combined (4)
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 19, 2017

SQUAWKA:
Barcelona in #LaLiga this season:

With Samuel Umtiti: WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Without Samuel Umtiti: LDWLWDDDDDL pic.twitter.com/cIf8Cw2XyX
— M·A·J (@UltraAutistic) March 19, 2017

#MSN

Most common assist-to-score combinations for Barcelona in #LaLiga this season:

Neymar Suarez (4)
Suarez Messi (4)
Messi Suarez (4) pic.twitter.com/zdZgV401UR
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 19, 2017

Goals scored by Barcelona in their last 4 home games:

1 Valencia
2 PSG
3 Celta
4 Gijon #FCBValencia pic.twitter.com/bH67YxgaN3
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 19, 2017

Messi wanted an extended break, so he decided to skip the next game!

Clever move from Messi. An extended international break!

Well deserved! https://t.co/2H67kAP8xi
— Chef (@champ_ian) March 19, 2017

Nice attempt but those stats are incorrect!

Messi created 19 chances against Valencia tonight. To put this into perspective, Cristiano Ronaldo has created 23 chances all season. pic.twitter.com/lAXUIOkMc7
— Asad (@Being_Asad_) March 19, 2017

Some Neymar magic to cap things off!

19 - Neymar has made more assists than any other player this season in all competitions (top five leagues). Magic. pic.twitter.com/sUN33LGMGA
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 19, 2017

Beautiful goal from Barcelona, Neymar sets it up, Andre Gomes finishes. 4-2 pic.twitter.com/RaaAZ9mikq
— TFE (@FEnthusiastHd) March 19, 2017