Barca Blaugranes Awards: Best Team Goal: The Winners

Today has been a busy day in the football world with the transfer season coming to the fore thanks mostly to the news that Robin Van Persie will not be extending his contract at Arsenal. No doubt there will be a plethora of "exclusives" breaking over the next couple of days, each claiming that RVP has signed for a different club, with Barcelona likely to be one of those teams, but I’m sure we all know that such a move is unlucky to materialise. The soon-to-be-signing of Jordi Alba has got Barcelona fans salivating at the team’s prospects next season, especially after his link-up play with Xavi and co for Spain’s second goal in Sunday’s European Championship win. However, Barcelona did score some great team goals without Alba last season, although even after an extended period of voting, there is a two-way tie in our Best Team Goal category. And the winners are...

=1^st – Lionel Messi vs Villarreal – 23%

Undoubtedly the entire 38 pass build-up to the goal is what stands out here; Barcelona toyed with an impressive Villarreal team, working the ball around at will, pushing, probing, before delivering the killer pass for the finish. Already 3-0 by this stage, Barcelona were off to an impressive start to the defense of their league title and this – Messi’s first league of the season – hinted that the Blaugrana domination wasn’t going to end just yet. Maybe the rest of the season wasn’t quite as spectacular, but if anything that just makes this goal that little bit sweeter.

Lionel Messi goal vs Villarreal (38 passes) (via allasFCB2)

Goals against Real Madrid are always satisfying. Goals that win trophies are always memorable. So what happens when you combine the two and have the living legend that is Lionel Messi scoring? Well, you have the Supercopa winner from August. Cesc Fàbregas was involved in his debut (seems Xavi was right, Cesc does have Barca DNA), and Adriano’s cross wasn’t exactly typical Barcelona play, but it was world-class nonetheless. As for Messi’s finish, his volley was emphatic, accurate and at the time, could well have been a visual confirmation of Barcelona’s superiority over their eternal rivals in El Clasico. It didn’t quite pan out that way, but Messi’s brilliant strike surely delayed the inevitable?

Golazo Lionel Messi Barcelona vs Real Madrid 3-2 (via 101greatgoalsFan)