Ranking every one of Lionel Messi’s El Clasico Goals

Lionel Messi will miss Sunday’s El Clasico, which is all the more reason to take a moment to enjoy his record 26 goals in the fixture.

It may just end up being the iconic image of Lionel Messi’s career. April 23, 2017. Barcelona tied 2-2 in extra time at the Bernabeu. A rapid Barcelona counter-attack breaks right at the death, with the ball eventually reaching the feet of Jordi Alba. Alba’s cutback finds Messi in space at the edge of the box and, with his trademark composure, he curls it low and left into the back of the net. Victory in El Clasico. A beauty to mark his 500th career goal for Barcelona.

But it’s his celebration after that stays etched in people’s minds.

For but a moment, that trademark composure leaves. In enemy territory, having gutted every Real Madrid fan in attendance, Messi strips his shirt and holds it, stoically, in front of the Madrid crowd.

Iconic.

Watch the entirety of the goal and subsequent celebration below — it gets the heart pumping even on the 50th rewatch.

While that was jumping ahead to one of the best of the list, there have been many great goals scored by the maestro against his biggest rival. Before diving into the list, here are all of those goals in case you need a refresher.

https://twitter.com/LaLigaEN/status/991640696049168387

Finally, a note on how these rankings were built. First, context matters — a good goal that wins a match in La Liga is more impressive than a great goal in a losing effort in the Spanish Super Cup. Second, and it’s hard to imagine anyone arguing with this, penalties are never as cool as a goal from open play.

Let’s get on to the rankings!

26.  Spanish Super Cup, Aug. 13, 2017

A blasé penalty goal to make it 1-1 in the 77th. Barcelona would go on to lose 3-1. Ranking every goal includes ranking the ones that are entirely forgettable.

25. La Liga, Oct. 7, 2012

Perhaps the only goal that could be ranked below a penalty, this one is almost joyful thanks to how bad the defending is. A hilariously, failed clearance from Pepe — after two deflections from Madrid defenders, no less — has the ball fall right to Messi in front of goal. From there it is an easy finish from three yards out.

24. La Liga, Dec. 23, 2017

Albeit an extremely well-taken penalty, this was the second goal in a game Barcelona easily won 3-0.

23. Spanish Super Cup, Aug. 23, 2012

Penalty goal that is casually placed into the right corner as the keeper goes left. Barcelona go on to win the game 3-2 as Xavi seals it in the 77th, but it’s hard to be wowed by a penalty in the Super Cup.

22. La Liga, April 16, 2011

A penalty goal, albeit an important one, as the goalkeeper correctly guesses to the left, and is even right under the ball, but Messi gets just enough air under it for it to get past an outstretched hand. Ronaldo would score a penalty of his own as this iteration of El Clasico ends 1-1.

21. La Liga, March 2, 2013

Receiving the ball on the right in space, he zooms ahead before cutting inside. A snapshot beats the goalkeeper easily at the near post. This goal seems to be more to do with bad goalkeeping than messianic Messi. To further cement the low ranking, Barcelona ended up losing this match 2-1.

20. Spanish Super Cup, August 17, 2011

More a mistaken failed clearance than anything else, yet Messi still puts it perfectly over the keeper and into the side netting.

19. La Liga, March 23, 2014

A wonderful penalty, outmaneuvering the goalkeeper to fire it hard to the right. However, it remains a penalty goal and, as such, is docked despite being one of Messi’s three goals in an exhilarating 4-3 win. At least you know there’s more of this game to come?

18. La Liga, March 23, 2014

Such as another penalty! However, this is an absolutely beautiful penalty to complete the hat-trick for Messi. This one gets the edge over his first penalty in the game as he puts it perfectly upper 90 — no goalkeeper could have saved it.

17. La Liga, May 2, 2009

An extremely quick break has Messi take it all the way to slot past the goalkeeper. His speed is rather impressive, but Barcelona were already rolling in this game (they would go on to win 6-2).

16. La Liga, May 2, 2009

Messi’s other goal from the 2009 6-2 shellacking. He doesn’t have to do much for this but corral the ball with just the goalkeeper to beat. As we would expect from the greatest of all time, Messi makes him look an absolute fool. A fake shot opens the entirety of the goal up before going near post to move the score to 5-2.

15. Spanish Super Cup, Aug. 14, 2011

If this had been in a more important competition, this might be much higher. In a match that would end 2-2, Messi puts Pepe on skates, sending him sprawling to the turf, before outpacing everyone into the box to slot it home. Cool goal, not cool circumstances.

14. La Liga, March 10 2007

Back when Ronaldinho was Barcelona’s number 10 and Messi wore number 19 and was known for his long, terrible hair. Ronaldinho skirts his way through the entirety of the defense and gets a shot off. The rebound falls to young Messi who bombs it in from close range to tie it at 2-2 in the 27th. It’s hard to not be partial to long-hair Messi — someone should spend the time ranking the hairstyles Messi has worn into El Clasico.

13. Spanish Super Cup, August 29, 2012

He’s simply the best. An absolutely scintillating free kick goal from almost 30 yards out. A beautiful bend of a strike — only marred by Barcelona going on to lose the game, negating the importance of the goal.

He just doesn’t stop doing this. Little Lionel has scored a lot of free-kick goals in his career, and just did this in the Champions League last month:

https://twitter.com/foxsoccer/status/1042104927277875200

12. La Liga, December 13 2008

Barcelona had gone up in the 83rd minute through a Samuel Eto’o goal (does that take you back?). Messi, in his first season wearing the number 10, seals the game with an audacious chip in the 89th minute that has just enough air to get over the keeper. The game being in Barcelona’s favor already is the only thing keeping it from being in the top 10.

11. La Liga, May 6, 2018

The most recent El Clasico goal is another classic for Messi. This one came in a 2-2 draw where Barcelona had to hold on with all their might as they were down to 10 men, allowing themselves to stay unbeaten with only three games left in La Liga. Only a shock 5-4 loss to Levante kept Ernesto Valverde’s men from an unbeaten domestic season.

As for the goal, it was your typical Messi magic — keeping the ball on a string in the box with three men near him to fire in low and away into the corner. Perhaps if Barcelona had managed to come all the way back from 5-1 down against Levante this goal would be of more historical significance.

10. Spanish Super Cup, Aug. 17, 2011

With acknowledgement that the Super Cup is not always the most sought-after competition, a game-winner in the 88th minute off a well-worked one-two ending with a rocketed volley is hard to scoff at in any way, shape or form.

Perhaps adding to the mythos of this goal, it was Messi’s third of the 2011 Super Cup, as Barcelona took it on aggregate 5-4. However, Real Madrid would have the last laugh of the 2011-12 season as they took home the La Liga title with 100 points (Barcelona finished with 91).

9. Champions League, April 27, 2011

The third El Clasico in the month of April 2011, Messi would score a hugely important goal in the 76th minute, his 51st of the campaign, to open it at 1-0. This one is all about off-ball movement, as in the end the shot is a fast toe poke from a low ball in.

Although it was his first goal against Real Madrid in the Champions League, he would have an even more impressive goal in this match 11 minutes later.

8. La Liga, March 23, 2014

The most impressive of Messi’s hat-trick in this game (also the only one from open play). An incisive pass from just outside the box from Messi finds Neymar’s feet. Before Neymar can turn, however, the ball is poked away from him … and into an on-rushing Messi who has blitzed in to tie the game at 2-2.

His two penalties afterward (numbers 19 and 18 on this list) would seal the game and victory for Barcelona. To truly showcase the greatness of Messi and Ronaldo, consider this: they are first and second all time in La Liga hat-tricks, with 30 and 34 respectively. With Ronaldo now in Italy, we might see another Messi record in the next few years. Barcelona fans will hope he can get a third La Liga El Clasico hat-trick.

7. La Liga, April 10, 2010

Messi controls a chip into the box beautifully, using his chest to take the ball to the right and get the defenders off-kilter. Despite having two men on him, the move with the chest allows him enough space to fire it in to open the scoring in the 32nd in a game they’d go on to win 2-0.

Barcelona ended up taking the 2009-10 La Liga title by a mere three points. With this match being so late in the season, Messi’s heroics in this El Clasico could be spun as league-winning.

6. La Liga, April 23, 2017

Overshadowed by the last-gasp winner and shirt-holding celebration, this was Messi’s 499th Barcelona goal and first goal in the El Clasico in over three years. Sergio Ramos thinks he can clear it away as Messi charges into the box. Instead, he becomes Charlie Brown to Messi’s Lucy, finding nothing but air as number 10 is already by him and about to score.

Iker Casillas. Pepe. Sergio Ramos. Marcelo. All have been made to look the fool at various points in this list. All are extraordinary, all-time players. Messi is truly something else and there is no way to state how much we all should appreciate him as he enters the last several years of his playing career.

5. La Liga, October 7, 2012

While his first goal of this game may be one of the least noteworthy El Clasico finishes Messi has had (coming in at 25 on this list), this one was one of his best. A brilliant free-kick barely finding its way over a shoulder in the wall curls away from the goalkeeper and into the side netting.

Ronaldo had a brace himself in this game, leaving it all square at 2-2 courtesy of the two talismans. While there is some bittersweetness that these two will not face off again in El Clasico, at least we had years and years of glorious matchups between two titans of the game.

4. La Liga, March 10, 2007

Messi’s flowing locks collect the ball on the right side of the box with acres of space. His hair as far behind him as the nearest defender, he slots it low along the ground to the left for his first of the night. His first in El Clasico.

Messi was two years away from winning his first Ballon d’Or, and a year away from being La Liga’s top goalscorer for the first time, but there are many of us that view this game as his true breakout. Being in the Barcelona squad was one thing, but this was a young Argentine putting one of the two biggest clubs in the world on his back and carrying them to a point. For casual fans, this was his moment.

3. Champions League, April 27, 2011

Perhaps Messi’s most brilliant solo goal against Real Madrid, this one is a true beauty. Messi demolishes the entirety of the Madrid defense in a slaloming run. Counting the goalkeeper, he gets past five defenders on his own for another important away goal in the Champions League semifinal.

Barcelona would go on to face Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United in the final, with Messi scoring in the 54th as the Spanish club would take home the trophy following a 3-1 victory. Messi completed the Champions League campaign with 12 goals, four more than second place. The third of four Champions League titles for the Argentine, 2010-11’s has to be extra special having gotten past Real Madrid in the semifinal.

2. La Liga, March 10, 2007

Lionel Messi, long hair flowing around him, bookmarks himself in every Madrid fan’s nightmares with his first hat trick. Three times Real Madrid go in front. Three times Little Leo brings it back.

This particular goal takes place in the 88th minute, as Messi collects the ball outside the box, slaloms past a would-be tackler, and fires it hard through the goalkeeper. A legendary performance in his first true bossing of an El Clasico.

Perhaps some could have guessed it, but most would not. Five years after this game, Lionel Messi would set a new Guiness World Record for most goals in a calendar year for club and country with 91 (79 coming for Barcelona). Five Ballon d’Ors, nine La Liga titles, and one huge, constant pain in the neck for Real Madrid.

1. La Liga, April 23, 2017

Just watch it again.