Jakarta –
Barcelona experienced heaving on Spanish League this season until finally failed to win. However, amid the ups and downs of his team, Lionel Messi still look good.
Barcelona started the 2020/2021 season with a new coach, Ronald Koeman. The Dutch coach was appointed to replace Quique Setien who was sacked after failing miserably in the previous season.
After stagnating at the start of the season, Barcelona got up and set an unbeaten run in December-April to compete with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the title race. However, the results were less than good in the six matches near the end of the season, making Barcelona fail to win and finish third in Spanish League standings.
Although Barcelona ended the Spanish League disappointingly, Messi still shone. The Argentine striker closed the season with the title top scorer or El Pichichi.
Lionel Messi topped the list of Spanish League top scorers this season with 30 goals. He was ahead of Karim Benzema who scored 23 goals for Real Madrid.
When it comes to scoring goals from free kicks, Messi is also the best in the Spanish League this season. He scored three free-kick goals, above Joselu who scored two free-kicks for Alaves.
Messi is also recorded as the player with the most number of shots on target (91). Benzema in second position only fired 55 shots on target.
The presence of Messi in the opponent’s game area often creates threats. He recorded 1,636 passes in the opponent’s playing area, ahead of the midfielders in his team such as Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, also Dani Parejo (Villarreal) and Luka Modric (Real Madrid).
Messi is also the player who has been fouled most often in the Spanish League this season. Messi has recorded 99 violations. The closest to him were Javi Galan (Huesca) and Nabil Fekir (Real Betis) who were fouled 97 and 85 times, respectively.
These figures confirm an important role Lionel Messi for Barcelona. The Blaugrana also faced an important moment this summer to retain their players as Messi’s contract expires in June 2021.
(nds/cas)
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