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#3 Barcelona vs Getafe, La Liga, 2016
With Lionel Messi, Suarez and Neymar at the peak of their powers, there was virtually no stopping Barcelona between 2015 and 2016. The Catalan club blew away any and every opposition who came their way.
The chemistry between the trio extended beyond the pitch as they ended up becoming close friends. On it, they seemed almost hypnotic and proved to be a nightmare for defenders.
Although Luis Suarez didn’t start the game against Getafe, the duo of Lionel Messi and Neymar proved to be enough as Barcelona put six goals past the opposition defence.
Lionel Messi set up the Munir’s headed goal with a deft pass and then provided two brilliant assists for Neymar to take his assist tally to three once again.
Oh, and Lionel Messi had also scored in that match. Brutal.
#2 Real Betis vs Barcelona, La Liga, 2020
The game against Real Betis at the Estadio Benito Villamarin proved to be a difficult encounter. Barcelona went behind in the game twice. Not only did they manage to restore parity on both occasions, but they also went on to win the game 3-2.
As expected, Lionel Messi had a massive role to play with yet another hat-trick of assists.
The first goal arrived from a slick move when Clement Lenglet found Frenkie de Jong with a line-breaking pass. De Jong broke free from his markers and powered his way through before passing the ball to the Barcelona captain.
Lionel Messi cut inside and lobbed the ball to De Jong who had continued on his run and the Dutch midfielder made no mistake.
The next two goals arrived from dead-ball situations. Lionel Messi’s free kick towards the end of half-time fell kindly in the box for Sergio Busquets, who finished the chance with aplomb.
The Argentine then assisted Clement Lenglet’s header towards the end of the game with yet another free kick to seal a statement victory for Barcelona.
#1 Saint Etienne vs PSG, Ligue 1, 2021
There was considerable build-up to the game as Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos made his much-anticipated Paris Saint-Germain debut. However, it turned out to be his former Barcelona rival Lionel Messi who ended up stealing the show.
Saint Etienne dealt PSG a crushing blow when they opened the scoring inside 23 minutes. However, just before half-time, the home side had to see Timothee Kolodziejczak receive his marching orders after controversially bringing down Kylian Mbappe.
Lionel Messi took the resulting free kick and PSG got back on level terms through captain Marquinhos’ superb header.
The Ligue 1 table-toppers then went ahead when Lionel Messi took two fabulous touches at the edge of the box and laid the ball gently down for Angel di Maria. The winger produced a spectacular finish with only 11 minutes remaining in the game.
Lionel Messi got his third assist in stoppage time thanks to another clinical header from Marquinhos at the end of his fabulous cross, thus putting the game to bed.
With this victory over Saint Etienne, PSG have already opened up a 12-point lead at the top of the table in Ligue 1.
