Twitter hails Lionel Messi's brilliant performance against Rayo Vallecano
![Lionel Messi celebrates - It was another masterclass by the Argentine legend](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 594 396"></svg>)
Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano 3-1 in LaLiga at the Camp Nou. For Barcelona, the goals were scored by Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez. For Rayo Vallecano, the goal was scored by Raul de Tomas. Messi was involved in 2 of the 3 goals for Barcelona, and Twitter couldn't stop praising the Argentine maestro.
In the first half, Barcelona dominated the possession stats as expected. The Blaugrana missed a few early chances and they just lacked that final decisive touch. Ray Vallecano scored the first goal through De Tomas. He was found by Alvaro Garcia and he smashed his shot past Marc Andre Ter Stegan into the bottom corner.
Barcelona drew level just before half time through Gerard Pique. Lionel Messi whipped in a brilliant free kick and the Spanish centre back leapt highest to head the ball in.
In the second half, Barcelona got an early penalty when Nelson Semedo was brought down by Jordi Amat in the box. Up stepped Messi who fired La Blaugrana to a 2-1 lead. Barca then had hold of the proceedings. Around the 69th minute, Messi's brilliant free kick was headed over the bar by Alex Moreno.
Luis Suarez made it 3-1 for Barcelona after playing a neat one-two with Ivan Rakitic. In the dying moments of the game, another Messi free kick went just over the bar, keeping the score at 3-1. Barcelona then saw the game off to record yet another victory at the Camp Nou.
This win meant that Barcelona is now 7 points ahead at the top of the LaLiga standings. Also, Lionel Messi now has scored 26 goals and recorded 12 assists in the Spanish League, which is an astonishing record.
Here's how Twitter reacted to the Argentine's brilliant performance.
Modified 20 Dec 2019, 21:59 IST
