Lionel Messi turned a straightforward penalty kick into a breathtaking moment.
With Barcelona up, 3-1, on Celta Vigo on Sunday night, Messi stepped up to take a penalty. But instead of blasting the ball to the net, he tapped it softly to the right. With the goalkeeper flummoxed, an onrushing Luis Suárez punched it in.
Needless to say, Twitter users were excited. The stunt brought both praise and criticism, with fans revelling in Messi’s masterstroke while others claimed that it was a sign of disrespect towards their opponents given the arrogance needed to perform such a trick play showed the Catalans were not taking Celta seriously.
Coach Luis Enrique defended the goal to reporters: “There will be those who like it and those who don’t,” he said. “As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting manner.”
Though the plan seemed to go like clockwork, Neymar claimed afterward that he was the player who was supposed to score the goal, not Suárez.
“It was for me; we had practiced it in training,” he said, according to The Independent. “Leo and myself had practiced, but Luis was closer and he scored it.”