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#2 Lionel Messi
Every time, there would only be one player worthy of sitting on top of the list after a matchday. More often than not, it would be Lionel Messi.
Lyon managed to shut Messi down at their home like they did 10 years back in the same stage of the competition. But Barcelona did score 5 goals on that night against Lyon in 2009, and the same happened again at the Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi's first goal contribution was his perfect execution of the Panenka kick. A penalty executed with authority, giving no chances to Anthony Lopes. Then he came again with his dribble and found Suarez.
In behind the defence, Suarez found Coutinho square and helped him score a goal in a long while. There was a mini heart-attack when Lyon equalized but then Messi turned the heat up again.
He dribbled straight into the Lyon defence while Denayer and Marcelo were in retreat. Messi got the ball into his left foot and feinted a shot, a trap which both Marcelo and Denayer fell for. The Argentine then easily shifted the ball to his right foot and slammed it past Gogelin.
We still thought that Messi was done for the day but no, he still had to show us the third eye that he possesses. Dribbling into the box from the side, Mendy with him and the whole defence stuck to him like a magnet, Messi cut a ball into the box with his right foot and Gerard Pique got himself what he likes, a goal.
To cap it off, Messi found Dembele near the box and the Frenchman made no mistake in finishing the piece of play. To think that Lionel Messi still wasn't a 100% or didn't try to perform at a high level is delusional.
Messi was not his usual self against Lyon and he passed, pressed, shot, ran, dribbled, all with the same intensity rather than walking on the pitch. But what if he still improves, he might have new tricks up his sleeve, ones that nobody have seen.
Well done Lionel Messi, and well deserved.
