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Lionel Messi's Barcelona contract will not be renewed and the six-time Ballon d'Or winner has left the club despite both parties reaching an agreement earlier.
In a statement released, the La Liga club cited "financial and structural obstacles" and blamed "Spanish league regulations" on player registration for being unable to sign a new contract with the player. Messi's previous contract had expired on June 30.
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Lionel Messi has scored some brilliant free-kicks at Barcelona
Messi spent 17 seasons at Barcelona, making a total of 778 appearances and scoring 672 goals for the club. Among those goals were 50 brilliant free-kicks scored by the Argentine for Barcelona which inspired them to glory both in Spain and in Europe.
Here we take a look at five of the best free-kicks scored by Lionel Messi during his time at Barcelona.
Honorable mention: Free-kick vs Real Madrid, La Liga (07/10/2012)
Messi scored a sublime free-kick from 25 yards in a crunch game against Real Madrid in La Liga.
#5 Barcelona vs Real Betis, La Liga (05/05/2013)
After crumbling to a 7-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final in midweek, Barcelona faced Real Betis at Camp Nou and had a chance to get closer to the title.
Lionel Messi started on the substitute bench as he had just recovered from a hamstring injury. The Argentine came on in the 65th minute with his side being held 2-2 by the spirited visitors and facing a real threat to their 13-month unbeaten home record in La Liga.
Within minutes of coming on, Lionel Messi curled home a wonderful free-kick in the top-right corner to hand Barcelona the lead for the first time in the match and leave many in the Camp Nou shaking their heads in disbelief.
Messi managed to score another goal in the match as Barcelona managed to secure all three points.
Lionel Messi netted 60 goals in 50 matches across all competitions for the club and was the top scorer in La Liga with 46 goals as Barcelona clinched the league title that season.
#4 Deportivo La Coruna vs Barcelona, La Liga (08/01/2011)
Just days before the 2010 Ballon d'Or ceremony, Barcelona had a La Liga match away to Deportivo La Coruna. The ceremony was going to be a special one for Barcelona fans as their three star players - Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi were on the podium for the award.
David Villa opened the scoring for the Catalan giants and in the 51st minute Messi gave a clear reminder of why the Argentine forward was in the running for a second straight Ballon d'Or, as he curled a sublime free-kick around the outside of the defensive wall and into the top left corner for his 18th goal of the season.
Barcelona went on to win the game 4-0 and in a few days time Lionel Messi won his second Ballon d'Or. He finished the season with 53 goals in 55 games in all competitions as Barcelona completed the Champions League and La Liga double.
#3 Villarreal vs Barcelona, La Liga (08/01/2017)
Lionel Messi and Barcelona did not have the greatest of starts in 2017. They started the year with a 2-1 Copa Del Rey defeat to Athletic Bilbao and were unable to chalk up their first win of the year with a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in La Liga. However, the major highlight in the draw was Lionel Messi's free-kick in the closing stages of the game.
With Villarreal leading the game during the dying minutes of the match, Barcelona earned a free-kick on the edge of the box, giving them a chance to level the proceedings.
Lionel Messi stepped up to take the free-kick. The Argentina international, who had earlier hit the post, completely wrong-footed goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo and fired into the top-left corner to earn a draw for the Catalan giants.
Lionel Messi finished as the top scorer in the league with 37 goals although Barcelona managed to finish only second behind Real Madrid in the title race. They did, however, manage to win the Copa del Rey that season and made that remarkable come-back against PSG in Round 16 of the Champions League, before eventually losing to Juventus in the quarter-finals of the competition.
#2 Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona, La Liga (26/02/2012)
The 2011/12 season was arguably the best in terms of goals that Lionel Messi had during his Barcelona career. He scored a mind-blowing 73 goals in just 60 games during the campaign, surpassing Gerd Muller's record of most goals scored in a single season.
Amongst these goals was a sublime free-kick away to Atletico Madrid during a La Liga match. With the score tied at 1-1 going into the 81st minute, Messi made a complete fool of Thibaut Courtois by scoring into the 'wrong' top corner for a left-footer from what seemed an improbable angle.
It was a sign of Messi's incredible footballing brain to have seen Courtois close to his right post at such a late stage, allowing him to wrong-foot the lanky Belgian shot-stopper.
Barcelona ultimately lost out on the La Liga trophy to Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, but Lionel Messi ended up as the top scorer in La Liga with 50 goals and was rewarded with a 3rd consecutive Ballon d'Or for his brilliant individual campaign.
#1 Barcelona vs Liverpool, CL Semi-Final 1st leg (01/05/2019)
As good as Lionel Messi is in open play with the ball at his feet, his ability to strike a deal ball perfectly is an incredible one, and he showed it once again against Liverpool with arguably his best ever free-kick goal.
With Barcelona leading the Champions League semi-final first leg 2-0 at Camp Nou, Messi stepped out from 35 yards out with only one thought on his mind.
Messi whipped the ball into the top left corner, scoring his 600th career goal and embarrassing Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal completely while wheeling away in celebration, almost hardly believing what he'd just done himself.
Unfortunately for Lionel Messi and Barcelona, Liverpool mounted an incredible second-leg comeback at Anfield, throwing the Catalans out of the Champions League with a 4-3 win on aggregate.
Barcelona, however, managed to clinch the La Liga title and Messi ended the season with 51 goals and 21 assists in 50 outings, which helped him win his record sixth Ballon d'Or that year.
