LIONEL MESSI
On 21 August 2010, Messi scored a hat-trick in his first start of the season in a 4–0 victory over Sevilla FC in the Supercopa de España, helping Barcelona secure their first trophy of the season after a 1–3 first leg loss.[113] He also began his league season with a goal, scoring after just three minutes against Racing Santander on 29 August 2010. He then continued his excellent form into the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Panathinaikos where he scored two goals, assisted another two and also hit the frame of the goal on two separate occasions.
On 19 September 2010, Messi suffered an ankle injury due to an ill-advised tackle by Atlético Madrid defender Tomáš Ujfaluši in the 92nd minute of their Round 3 match at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. At first sight it was feared that Messi suffered a broken ankle that could have kept the star player away from the pitch for a minimum of six months, but MRI performed the next day in Barcelona showed he suffered a sprain in the internal and external ligaments of his right ankle.[114] Team-mate David Villa stated "the tackle on Messi was brutal" after watching the video of the play and also added that he believed the Atlético defender "didn't go into the tackle to hurt".[115] The incident caused widespread media attention and brought up the debate of equality in protecting all players in the game.
When Messi recovered he scored in a 1–1 tie against RCD Mallorca. He then scored another brace on the UEFA Champions League against København and helped the team to a 2–0 home win.[116] He continued his impressive scoring run with braces against Zaragoza and Sevilla. After a prolific October, he started November scoring on an away 1–1 tie against København and an away 3–1 win against Getafe where he also assisted team-mates David Villa and Pedro Rodríguez.[117] In the next fixture against Villarreal CF, he scored combining with Pedro, which gave Barcelona a 2–1 lead. He scored another goal and Barcelona won 3–1. This was the 7th consecutive match in which Messi scored, breaking his own previous record of 6. He also achieved the feat of scoring 50 goals in the calender year of 2010 with the 1st goal, while with the second goal, he achieved the same feat again, this time considering the goals he scored wearing a Barcelona shirt in 2010. Against Almería he scored his second hat-trick of the season in an impressive 8–0 away win, the second goal was his 100th La Liga goal.[118] He scored on his ninth game in a row (10th including a friendly against Brazil) on a 3–0 away win against Panathinaikos.[119]
Messi won the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or, beating his Barcelona teammates Xavi and Iniesta.[125] Messi had been nominated for the awards for the fourth consecutive year.[126] Only two days after he won the award he scored his first hat-trick of the year and third of the season against Real Betis.[127] He began the second round of the league with a goal, scoring his second penalty againstRacing Santander.[128] After scoring the penalty kick, Messi revealed a message on his undershirt that said, "Happy birthday, mami.".[129] He continued his goalscoring form with a brace against Almería in the Copa del Rey semifinal,[130] and followed it up with another brace less than a week later against Hércules CF.[131] On 5 February, Barcelona broke the record for most consecutive league wins with 16 victories after they defeated Atlético Madrid 3–0 at the Camp Nou.[132] Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to ensure the victory for his side and after the match he stated, "it's an honor to be able to pass a record set by a great like Di Stéfano" and "if the record has been around for so long is because it's very complicated to achieve and we have reached it by defeating a very difficult team who's going through a bad situation, which makes it even more difficult."[133]Messi's goalscoring run ended on 29 November at El Clásico but Barcelona still managed to win 5–0 with Messi assisting Villa twice.[120] The next match day he scored a brace and gave an assist against Osasuna.[121] He followed with another brace against Real Sociedad.[122] In El Derbi, a match Barcelona won 1–5, he assisted teammates Pedro and Villa to score one goal each.[123] His first goal in 2011 came against Deportivo La Coruña with a free kick on a 4–0 away win, where he once again assisted both Pedro and Villa.[124]
After two scoreless games he scored the winner against Athletic Bilbao in which Barcelona won 2–1.[134] The next week he scored the first header of the season against Mallorca on a 3–0 away win.[135] This victory was the equalising a La Liga record set by Basque club Real Sociedad in the 1979–80 campaign with a 19 unbeaten away matches. The record was broken after three days later when Messi scored the only goal on an away victory over Valencia.[136] On 8 March, Messi scored two goals against Arsenal in a UEFA Champions League match at the Camp Nou, helping Barcelona win 3–1 and qualify to the quarter-finals of the competition.[137] After failing to score for a month he scored a brace against Almería; the second goal was his 47th of the season, equalling his club record return of the previous season.[138] He surpassed his record on 12 April 2011 by scoring the winner against Shakhtar Donetsk in a UEFA Champions League game, which put him in the record book as all time top scorer in a single season for Barcelona.[139] He scored his eight goal on El Clásico on a 1–1 tie at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. On 23 April, Messi scored his 50th goal of the season against Osasuna in a 2–0 home victory which he came on as a substitute in the 60th minute.[140]
In the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals he gave a memorable performance, scoring twice against Real Madrid in a 2–0 win, the second goal (a dribble past several players) being acclaimed as one of the best ever at that stage of the competition.[141][142] In the UEFA Champions League Finals at Wembley, Messi scored the eventual game-clinching goal to give Barcelona their third title in six years and fourth overall.[143]
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