“With Barcelona clinging to a one-goal lead, Messi bends in a low-probability strike (xG 0.0589) to finally shake off Deportivo in a 5–4 thriller, completing his hat-trick and bringing up career goal 299.”
Messi’s hat-trick and assist turn a wild end-to-end league clash at Deportivo into his personal showcase, with his goals repeatedly restoring Barcelona’s control in a nine-goal thriller during his peak years.
From an xG of just 0.06, Messi rifles a low‑probability left‑footer past Valencia to drag Barça level at 1–1, capping a Man of the Match display with his 389th La Liga goal and 628th of his career.
With an xG of just 0.06, Messi turns Neymar’s pass into a precise left-foot strike from a difficult position to break Sevilla’s resistance and open the scoring, adding La Liga goal number 277 to his career tally of 444.
From just inside the box, Messi pauses Rakitić’s pass with a dead stop, then whips a sudden left-footed strike across goal into the far corner to make it 4–1, his second of the night and career goal number 560.
From a tight first-half deadlock against Deportivo, Messi meets Dani Alves’ cut-back with a calm left-foot finish from a central angle, breaking the 0–0 and pushing his La Liga tally to 62 career goals (105 overall).