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Lionel Messi never ceases to mesmerize, he never ceases to surprise. How can a man be this good at something continuously for the last ten years? Maybe because he isn't just an ordinary man, he is the greatest of them all. On Sunday night, he just confirmed that fact.
Barcelona travelled to Ciutat de Valencia on Sunday to face a Levante side that had already beaten Real Madrid convincingly this season at the Bernabeu! As such, Valverde was wary and opted for 3 centrebacks, with Vermaelen partnering Lenglet and Pique.
He crowded the middle with Vidal, Busquets and Rakitic all starting, with Alba and Dembele working as the wide men. Up front, Messi started with Suarez. It was a team that had enough bite and steel to match a spirited Levante side, however, Barcelona had an added advantage - the presence of Lionel Messi.
The Catalans took a little time to get off the blocks, but once Messi started churning his magic, there was no stopping him. He first set up Suarez to fire in the opener in the 35th minute.
2 minutes before halftime, Messi's run through the right channel was spotted well by Busquets, who set him up to score with his right foot! 2 minutes into the second half, the Argentinean had done it again. Alba found his Skipper in space inside the box and Messi slotted in his second of the game.
In the 60th minute, it was all over for Levante, as Messi tapped in the easiest goal of the game when he was set up beautifully by Vidal to finish his hattrick.
But Messi wasn't done yet. The Argentinean picked up his second assist of the night by setting up Pique in the 88th minute to complete a memorable 5-0 victory. He now has 20 goals from 19 games in all competitions this season and has become the first player to score 50 goals in 2018.
Messi finished the game with 7 shots, 4 of which were on target. He attempted 45 passes, with 72% accuracy. He had 7 key passes and created 4 big chances. The Argentinean also won 5 duels and completed 2 dribbles. It was a spectacular night for Lionel Messi and Twitter had some of the best reactions. Here are few of the top tweets:
One man featured heavily in the tweets...
And then there were others who were in awe of his talent
The entire league was impressed
But everyone loves Messi, even our mothers
The Statistics are mindboggling
Others reminded France Football what a blunder they had made
