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Messi's Goalscoring Exploits Against The Premier League’s Top Six This Season Is Ridiculous

Messi's Goalscoring Exploits Against The Premier League’s Top Six This Season Is Ridiculous

Barcelona's Lionel Messi has made his mark against the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs in the Champions League this season.

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Lionel Messi has scored more times against the Premier League's top six than almost any other player this season.

Let that settle in for a moment. Settled in? Good. We'll continue.

We've already touched on the fact that the Barcelona captain has scored 26 times against the top six English side since the 2011-12 season -- despite, you know, never playing in the Premier League -- but his goalscoring exploits have put him quite high at the top of the charts for this season, too.

So, the 31-year-old Argentine ace has scored six times against the top six -- all in the Champions League, of course -- while Liverpool's Roberto Firmino occupies second place on five.

Meanwhile, Reds star Sadio Mané is tied in third place with Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Arsenal duo Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette with three goals to their names.

Rounding off the list is Mohamed Salah, who has scored twice against the top six in this campaign.

Messi might have been denied the chance to score the opener against Liverpool on Wednesday night thanks to a brilliant tackle from Andy Robertson, but he struck twice in the second half to hand Barcelona a 3-0 victory at the Camp Nou in their first-leg Champions League semi-final clash.

In fact, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner stole the limelight after he scored an incredible free-kick, which is an even better watch after BT Sport released footage that showed it from every possible angle.

Following on from the match, Barça boss Ernesto Valverde admitted that he is still surprised when the Argentine magician produces a moment of pure magic.

"I just saw it [the free-kick] at pitch level, but the truth is Leo's always surprising," he said (via Goal).

PA

"It was very far out, we didn't know what he was going to do. In the end, I don't know how he does it, but he always does.

"I'd rather not think how he does it, to be honest, but he always shows up when we need him the most, this time just when we were in situations in which we had to shake Liverpool's domination off.

"Through the way he plays and the way he gets close to their goal, he helped us play and win by a bigger margin -- and he instills fear into our opponents."

Can make Liverpool make a comeback in the second leg next week?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Manchester City, Spurs, Liverpool, Football News, Nou Camp, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Manchester United, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Premier League, Arsenal, Champions League, Ernesto Valverde, La Liga, Barca