Hate or love him, Messi is both an international player and talent for the reason of doing what no other man is doing or has done.
Despite not playing in the English Premier League, the star ace has outclassed players that are not playing in the League in goal scoring which he has scored against the big six clubs in the League.
The lethal star attacker was up to his usual genius antics on Wednesday as he left Liverpool’s Champions League hopes to hang by a thread.
The Argentine scored twice, including a sublime free-kick from 35 yards out into the top left corner, to ensure Barcelona ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the first-leg of their-semi final at the Nou Camp.
It was his 600th goal for Barcelona, which is staggering in itself. But perhaps just as remarkable, is that he has now scored 25 goals against the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ since the 2011-12 season despite never playing in the English top-flight.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner amazingly sits fourth in the rankings for most goals scored against England’s top six teams since 2011-12 – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
Only Sergio Aguero (43), Jamie Vardy (31) and Eden Hazard (26) sit above Messi in the pecking order.
But the 31-year-old finds himself above goalscoring giants Harry Kane (22), United legend Wayne Rooney (20) and Robin van Persie (18) in the goalscoring charts.
During his stellar career, Messi has actually netted 26 times against the Premier League’s big boys in just 33 Champions League matches.
Nine of these goals have come against Arsenal, six against City, four against United, three against Chelsea, and two against both Liverpool and Tottenham.
This is just three goals fewer overall than his great football rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who played in the Premier League for six years for United under Sir Alex Ferguson until 2009.
Messi will be hoping to take a step closer to Ronaldo’s tally when Barcelona travel to Anfield for the return leg of the Champions League semi-final.
The Catalan giants have one foot in the final after Luis Suarez put Barcelona ahead before Messi’s magic punished Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
It should be a very open game as Liverpool hunt the miracle next week on Merseyside, which will leave gaps for Messi to exploit.