Twitter reacts as Lionel Messi contributes 4 goals to help Barcelona win 5-1 over Lyon

Barcelona welcomed Lyon to the Camp Nou on Wednesday night for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie. The first leg had ended in a 0-0 draw and as such, there was all to play for on the night. Ernesto Valverde named a strong line up to face the French side at home. He started with Ter Stegen in goal, with Sergio Roberto, Pique, Lenglet and Alba in defence. The midfield comprised of Rakitic, Busquets and Arthur, while in the front, Messi and Coutinho started alongside Suarez.

The game started on a busy note, however it was soon clear that it was going to be another display of magical football from Lionel Messi. The Barcelona Skipper scored his first goal in the 17th minute from the spot, after Suarez won a penalty. Messi stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with an outrageous panenka. Barcelona were ahead on the night and in the tie. But the maestro was far from done.

In the 31st minute, Messi picked up Suarez with an outrageous pass. The Uruguayan sped into the box and passed the ball to Coutinho to score into an empty net. The first half ended with Barcelona comfortably 2-0 ahead.

In the second half, Lyon got a goal back through Tousart in the 58th minute, causing a few nerves in the Camp Nou. But when you have the greatest player in the world in your team, there's nothing to worry and it was time for Messi to inspire his team again.

He first scored a brilliant solo effort in the 78th minute, toying with the Lyon defence and sending the ball into the back of the net. In the 81st minute, he set up Pique to score the 4th goal of the game, lofting in a brilliant ball to the far post that fooled the entire Lyon defence and gave Pique an empty net to aim at.

When the game looked all but over, Messi had another trick up his sleeve. On a counter when he had the whole opposition defence running back in terror, Messi found Dembele in space in the box and the Frenchman scored Barcelona's 5th of the night.

The game ended 5-1 to Barcelona, who once again had their skipper to thank for pulling the team through. Twitter, as always, had some of the best reactions to the Argentinean's master class and here are the pick of the tweets.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written nearly 10000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 21 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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