Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini
born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record six Ballon d’Or awards,and a record six European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and six Copas del Rey. A prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (438), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (181) and the Copa América (12). He has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.
Lionel Messi scored a remarkable ‘Panenka free-kick’ during Barcelona’s derby win over Espanyol – but it turns out this isn’t the first time he’s pulled off the stunning set-piece technique.
Against Espanyol, Messi used a ‘Panenka’ style normally seen when players take a penalty. The technique involves chipping the ball into the net, and at the Nou Camp, Messi similarly clipped the ball with very little pace towards Diego Lopez’s goal.
His shot was so slow that defender Victor Sanchez was able to backpedal from the wall towards the goal-line – yet he was still unable to keep the ball out of the goal.
Instead, he cushioned it into the net, away from the flailing Lopez.
Nine years ago, Messi pulled Barcelona level at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos with the same technique – although this time, there was no pesky defender attempting to ruin the aesthete.
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