Messi: Real Madrid’s worst nightmare

By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye

Barcelona have won the last three at the Bernabeu by a combined 10-2!

After a magnificent year, Lionel Messi put the icing on the cake with a superb display at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to give his side victory in Saturday’s Clasico.

The Argentine has a special motivation when he plays against Real Madrid, and even more so when its on the turf of the Bernabeu.

In fact, he has won more Clasicos in Madrid than he has at the Camp Nou.

On Saturday, he picked up his tenth win from 19 games at the home of Los Blancos, making him the opposition player with the most victories in the stadium.

On top of that, he’s scored more Clasico goals in Madrid than he has in Barcelona too; of his 25 goals scored against Real Madrid, 15 have come in the Spanish capital.

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Such a record has seen Messi surpass Alfredo Di Stefano and Cristiano Ronaldo for goals scored in the fixture, who can boast 18 and 17 respectively.

Against the team in white, he has also scored more penalties than against any other side, with six scored and a conversion rate of 100 percent.

Messi’s goal on Saturday confirms him as the Pichichi of LaLiga with 15 goals at the winter break and the title of being the first player in history to score at least 15 goals in a Spanish league season for 10 years running.

The No. 10 closed the year with the best stats in Europe, with 54 goals more than anyone else.

The only player who could challenge that stat is Tottenham’s Harry Kane, who will play Southampton on Tuesday needing two goals to beat Messi, or one to draw level.

Messi is also fourth in the assist rankings for the year with 16, third with the most key passes (136) and has completed more dribbles than anyone else with 244, 69 more than Eden Hazard and almost 100 more than Neymar.