Lionel Messi vs Athletic Club record: 18 goals in just 25 games

FC Barcelona forward Leo Messi will be nightmare for Athletic Club once again on Sunday at the Camp Nou, 8.30pm. The Argentine has scored 18 goals against Los Leones in 18 games. 

One of the best was in the Copa del Rey final on May 30 2015, an authentic golazo.

Messi has scored in 15 of the games, including three doubles. He has not scored in more games against any other team, level with Atletico Madrid, though he has notched 24 times against the capital club. 

The star will show off his fifth Ballon d'Or to the fans on Sunday, before facing a team he has already scored against this season. Messi scored in the Spanish Super Cup in a 1-1 draw, though Barcelona lost the tie 5-1 on aggregate. 

Messi has 24 goals against Atletico and Sevilla, 21 against Real Madrid, 19 against Osasuna, and Athletic come fifth with 18. He will try to enlargen that last figure in Luis Enrique 300th game as Barcelona coach.

Lionel Messi, Carli Lloyd among nominees for FIFA goal of the year award

Carli Lloyd and Lionel Messi are among the nominees for the FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year.

Messi beat four defenders before scoring Barcelona's first goal against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final.

Lloyd scored for the United States from 50 yards against Japan in the Women's World Cup final.

Other nominees include Juventus striker Carlos Tevez and AC Milan defender Philippe Mexes. Gonzalo Castro, Wendell Lira, David Ball, Marcel Ndjeng, Esteban Ramirez and Alessandro Florenzi were also nominated Friday.

The 10 nominees will be trimmed to three on Nov. 30. The winner will be chosen on Jan. 11, the same day as the Ballon d'Or winner is announced.

Barcelona's Luis Enrique praises Lionel Messi recovery, coy over Clasico return

Lionel Messi is recovering "very well" from his knee injury according to Luis Enrique, but the Barcelona coach suggested the forward would not be rushed into making a return for the Nov. 21 Clasico with Real Madrid.

Messi, 28, was ruled out of action for seven to eight weeks on Sept. 26 after tearing the internal collateral ligament of his left knee early on in the 2-1 win against La Palmas.

Luis Enrique says that while any team would miss the Argentina international -- who scored 58 goals last season to lead Barca to the Treble -- he is pleased with how his side have coped ahead of Sunday's home match against Villarreal.

Asked how Messi's recovery was going, the coach told reporters: "Very well. Is that too short an answer? With Messi we're much stronger, no doubt about it, but we have a great team and lots of resources -- we've taken a step forward. Behind it all is some serious hard work."

On Messi's chances of featuring in the Bernabeu Clasico on Nov. 21, he said: "There's nothing worse for a player than relapse. We want him to recover properly."

Neymar and Luis Suarez have both stepped up in Messi's absence -- the Brazil captain has eight goals and five assists in the eight matches since Messi's injury, while Suarez has scored nine and made two more in that time.

Barca have gone three games without conceding after an early-season run of shipping goals in eight consecutive games -- a situation Luis Enrique is pleased with as the Blaugrana vie for top spot, with Rafa Benitez's Madrid side leading the table on goal difference after 11 games.

"We always review how other teams get at us and try to correct individual mistakes," he added. "We're in one of our better moments, we still have defensive aspects we can improve on -- every defensive situation can be improved."

Barca call the shots, even without Messi

Not even the absence of Leo Messi from Barça's starting line-up caused Atlético to be more assertive. Diego Simeone had planned the game in his own way, as he had announced the day before, and he made no changes to his plan as the match wore on.

The game could only go Barça's way, as it eventually did following Messi's arrival on the field. Atlético were all defence. The four defenders sought (and failed) to keep a tight rein on the three opposing attackers. Further forward,Tiago watched Ivan Rakitic, Gabi kept close to Andrés Iniesta, Óliver tracked Jordi Alba and Koke shadowed Sergi Roberto, while the two Atlético forwards Antoine Griezmann and Fernando Torres took it in turns to press Sergio Busquets and close off any through passes.

Winning is always a big ask when you play this way, all the more so when Barça pounce so quickly and clinically whenever you slip up and give the ball away. Not even in the best dream scenario, taking the lead, were Atlético capable of controlling the situation. Barça equalised so soon after this that everything went on as before. And then it got worse for Atleti.Messi came on and began to break the defence down at walking pace.

Afforded licence to roam, the Argentine started to find cracks in the defence wherever Atlético had the most men, until he wriggled his way through and decided the game in trademark style.

Messi's Champions League century

Lionel Messi really couldn't be in a much better place right now as he prepares to face Roma in this season's Champions League opener, after having seen off Atlético Madrid just hours after having touched down from the US. Despite having been robbed of hours of sleep following the birth of his second son, 20 minutes were all that it took for the star to score the winner at the Calderón, which he dedicated to his newborn, Mateo.

After a few more days rest and some further training sessions under his belt, Messi will take to Roma's Stadio Olimpico ready to write another chapter in his illustrious career. Wednesday's game will mark his 100th in the Champions League, and we all know that for 'La Pulga', when there is something to be celebrated, the best way to do so is with goals.

Messi has a particular liking for the Champions League. Quite aside from the four times that he has won the tournament, he will always be synonymous with European football's elite club competition. Not only was he the first player to beat Raúl González's tally of 71 goals, to become the competition's all-time top goalscorer, but in addition, the Argentine maestro currently sits top of the goalscoring charts, on 77 goals.

As he reaches the landmark of 100 Champions League appearances, Messi will be keen to maintain the sort of performance levels which have seen him crowned as the Champions League's top scorer on five occasions and named as UEFA's Best Player in Europe twice.

Tim Vickery’s Notes from South America: is Lionel Messi too much of a team player?

What quality did Pele and Diego Maradona have that Lionel Messi lacks?

A disconsolate Lionel Messi walks past the Copa America trophy.

Lionel Messi has now been a senior international player for over a decade; his Argentina debut came against Hungary on August 17th 2005.

It is not an occasion that he can look back upon with a great deal of pleasure.  Just turned 18, he was unleashed as a second half substitute.  He was straight into the action, but after only two minutes he launched himself on one of those characteristic runs, ball tied to his left foot.  An opponent held on to him, dragging him back.  Messi fought to free himself and was absurdly sent off for throwing an elbow.

Dragging Messi back in recent times has been his lack of a senior international title.  He could hardly have come closer, carrying Argentina to narrow defeat in last year’s World Cup final, and then losing out to Chile in a shoot out in the final of this year’s Copa America.  46 goals in 103 caps is a magnificent record, with 29 of them coming in the last 40 games, when he has been the captain.  But the lack of silverware with his country is always brought up in every discussion about his place in the all time pantheon.

The great Tostao, Brazil’s 1970 World Cup centre forward, is in no doubt that his attacking partner Pele was the best ever.  He concedes that Messi is better at setting up the play.  But he believes that Messi “lacks the personal transformation, the fury that Pele and other superstars had in big games and in the greatest difficulties.  Pele was like a cornered animal, uptight when he was unable to do what he liked and what he wanted.  He would try other solutions.”

It is an interesting psychological analysis.  Messi is clearly a quieter, less demonstrative figure than Pele or Diego Maradona.  “He is not self-sufficient,” continues Tostao, “he does not have the absolute lack of modesty which [renowned Brazilian writer] Nelson Rodrigues used to say was Pele’s greatest quality.”

Messi, then, is a player for whom the collective context is all important.  This, in essence, is Tostao’s argument.  He cites a moment in the Copa America final, in the last minute of normal time, when Messi at last managed to turn and slip his markers before launching a run that took him to the edge of the area – where he slipped a pass to Ezequiel Lavezzi on the left.  Lavezzi squared, but Gonzalo Higuain arrived at the far post a fraction of a second too late to steer the ball home.  Tostao calls Messi’s choice of move “correct,” but says that “the other option, to try and complete the move on his own, is what he should have done.  Messi plays with Argentina as he does for Barcelona,” he continues.  “A virtue in his club side, choosing the moment to go for the solo move, is a defect with his country, because it makes him trust too much in the collective game.”

This is also fascinating, but perhaps a little unfair.  It just so happened that at this moment his attacking partners were Lavvezzi and Higuain.  Angel Di Maria had pulled up injured and Sergio Aguero had been substituted, almost certainly an error.  But a collective context where Messi is partnered by a fit and firing Di Maria and Aguero is not radically different from the one he plays in every week for Barcelona.

There is, though, a substantial difference in the context of the team as a whole.  Tostao may well argue that “Messi plays with Argentina as he does for Barcelona.”  But however rich their attacking resources, it cannot be argued that Barcelona play as Argentina do.  There are fundamental differences – the main one being in the positioning of the defensive line.

Barcelona, of course, are known for pressing to win the ball back as soon as they have lost it, with the back four playing high up the field.  Argentina’s current crop of centre backs lack the pace to do anything similar, and so the line tends to drop much deeper.  This obviously has implications on the way Messi plays.  When Argentina win back possession they are often much further from goal than is the case with Barcelona.  Messi has a much greater area of the pitch to cover – which surely helps explain the end of season burn out he seemed to be suffering during the World Cup and in the final of the Copa America.

Lionel Messi has now missed 14 penalties for Barça

The Barça star has missed his first penalty of the season on four occasions now

Lionel Messi missed another penalty on Sunday night as Barcelona kicked off La Liga with a win against Athletic Club. 

It was the 14th spot kick he has missed for the club out of the 63 he has taken. Gorka Iraizoz saved on this occasion to deny Messi his first goal of the new campaign. 

He also missed his first penalty last season. The Argentine star missed against Levante on that occasion, with Jesus Fernandez making the save that time round. 

Messi also missed his first penalty of the 2011-12 season when Sevilla stopper Javi Varas kept him out in the ninth game of the season. The game went on to end 0-0. 

And in 2010-11 he missed his first penalty of the season, too. That time it was Panathinaikos goalkeeper Tzorvas who made the stop. 

In total, he has scored 49 penalties for Barcelona, missing 14, for a success rate of 77.7 percent.