It's 2018, and Lionel Messi is still good at soccer. The Barcelona star scored the first goal of the 2018-19 Champions League season on Tuesday against PSV, a filthy curler right over Jeroen Zoet. It's Messi's 101st UCL goal, and it came -- of course -- by way of a free kick in the 32nd minute.
The ball just seems to hover until Zoet completes his dive, and by the time he realizes that he mistimed his jump it's too late.
Oh, Messi 😮 pic.twitter.com/TR1GfCaQ4u
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 18, 2018
The goal sent Twitter buzzing as people went to praise Messi for the calculated shot.
— Evan (@SawftCombo) September 18, 2018
Greatest athlete ever don’t @ me
— 84/7 (@Gbe_Savvv) September 18, 2018
FCB fans are used to it 🐐🐐🐐
— miquel canosa (@miquelcs00) September 18, 2018
Lionel Messi.
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 18, 2018
Free-kick.
25 yards out...
Top corner 🎯
We really are running out of words to describe this man! pic.twitter.com/YDkIZ6XiL5
Lionel Messi, I've quite run out of words to describe him. He can literally do it all, he keeps on performing at the highest of levels for years and years. Simply nobody like him.
— Mod (@CFCMod_) September 18, 2018
Greatest of all time, period.
"numb to Messi's brilliance" is about right - describes a lot of people's attitudes towards him. It's as if he had an obligation of winning the CL to even warrant special attention. Last season he scored more than Salah & CR7 whilst displaying the heat-map of an attacking mid. https://t.co/qC85TUUQIL
— Diego Guerra (@diegodcg) September 18, 2018
Messi just scored this free-kick. This is absolutely filthy. Look at that curve 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/u4D7LWJpAr
— World Cup (@FlFAWC2018) September 18, 2018
Sometimes as a defender or a keeper, you just need to tip your cap and realize that you aren't going to stop the ball from going in. This kick had a mind of its own -- it was finding the back of the net.
It's Messi's first goal against PSV, making PSV the 30th different team that Messi has scored against in the Champions League. He simply continues to dominate.
Expect to see a lot more of this from Messi throughout the tournament. Once Juventus takes the pitch on Wednesday against Valencia, all eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo to see if he can answer on his new team.
