Valencia's goalkeeper cursed again. Here we go again.
This time, though, Li Mingyu didn't make Valencia's goalkeeper stew over it for long. Once he was inside the box, he fired a low shot with his right foot into the far corner and scored.
0–4. He had completed another hat trick.
The referee blew the final whistle shortly afterward.
Eight matches, four hat tricks, and one haul of four goals.
Absolutely terrifying!
Every team in Europe envied Barca's incredible luck.
The team had clearly been sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, and the question everyone found most fascinating—whether Messi would leave Barca—would probably have an answer very soon.
In the summer of 2020, something that shocked the entire football world happened: Messi formally sent Barcelona an ultimatum, demanding to leave.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were superstars who had dominated the football world for more than a decade.
The Best FIFA Men's Player had been synonymous with the world's finest players ever since the award began in 1991.
In 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo, then playing for Manchester United, won the prestigious award for the first time.
In 2009, Barcelona's Messi claimed the title.
Then, in 2010, The Best FIFA Men's Player and the Ballon d'Or were combined to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or.
From 2010 to 2015, Messi claimed four of the six Ballon d'Or awards, while Cristiano Ronaldo took the other two.
For a time, the two were hailed as a pair of unmatched rivals at the pinnacle of world football.
Starting in 2016, FIFA once again took charge of The Best FIFA Men's Player award.
In 2016 and 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo edged out Messi and won the title two years in a row, bringing his honors level with Messi's.
Over the next three years, only Messi won the award, claiming it once more in 2019. The other two went to Luka Modric in the World Cup year and to Lewandowski, who was like a god among men in 2020.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi were still the biggest stars in world football, the emergence of so many outstanding players had brought back the kind of wide-open competition the sport had seen in the past.
Sure enough, after the match, news came out that Messi's agent—his father—had arrived in Barcelona to reopen negotiations over Messi's contract extension.
That finally put the minds of the still-anxious Barcelona side at ease.
Their next opponent was none other than their El Clasico rivals, Real Madrid.
Since letting their star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, go, Real Madrid had been in very inconsistent form.
Among the top twenty scorers, Karim Benzema was the only Real Madrid player, and he had scored just 15 goals.
Messi, who topped the scoring charts, seemed to have rediscovered his attacking instincts after Li Mingyu joined the team. He had scored in game after game and now had 33 goals. Before Li Mingyu joined, Messi had scored only 19 league goals.
After being sent off in one match and serving a suspension in another, he had scored 14 goals in the six matches that followed, including two hat tricks and one astonishing five-goal haul.
Li Mingyu's scoring rate had been so dazzling that people had overlooked Messi, the bloodthirsty predator, baring his fangs and opening his jaws wide.
Li Mingyu was second in the scoring charts, with 19 goals in eight matches, ahead of third-place Suarez, who had 18.
Messi had needed 25 matches to score 19 goals. Li Mingyu had needed only eight. Absolutely terrifying!
Barcelona's entire squad spent the week training behind closed doors, and outsiders had no way of learning anything about the team.
This match was simply too important.
They would be going to Real Madrid's home ground, Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, to take on the third-placed side in the league.
Real Madrid were currently only four points behind Barcelona. If they lost this match, they would not only fall further behind the league leaders but also risk being caught by Real Madrid.
Both sides were determined to win.
In recent years, Spain's El Clasico had become the most captivating match in world football, earning the name the Century Derby.
Whenever the two teams met, the eyes of the entire world turned to Spain and focused on the two clubs.
The atmosphere at Real Madrid was even more tense.
Real Madrid not only had to face Barcelona's challenge that weekend, but also had a Champions League quarter-final the following midweek.
Their opponents were Liverpool, the Premier League's Red Devils, who had little left to play for in the league.
Liverpool were currently eighth in the league, ten points behind fourth place. With only six matches remaining, they had virtually no chance of breaking into the top four and qualifying for next season's Champions League.
So their only goal now was to win the Champions League.
It was the only way Liverpool could qualify for next season's Champions League.
That meant Real Madrid would be facing a ravenous Liverpool in what would undoubtedly be a fierce battle.
If Real Madrid weren't facing Barcelona, they might have taken it easy in this match, saving their starters' strength and preparing properly for the Champions League quarter-final the following midweek.
But their opponents were Barcelona, and Real Madrid had no intention of losing to them at home.
So this match would be a hard-fought battle for Barcelona as well.
At 3:00 p.m. on April 11, local Spanish time, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium hosted the marquee match of the 2020–2021 Spanish La Liga season: El Clasico.
Santiago Bernabeu Stadium was the home ground of Spanish giants Real Madrid.
The 81,044-seat stadium was packed. Outside, large crowds of fans from both sides gathered in the main square, watching the big screens and singing their teams' anthems to show their support.
This was El Clasico. This was the Century Derby. A clash between two of the most successful clubs in world football, it had become one of the most important days on the global football calendar.
The two teams had played 276 El Clasico matches since 1902. Barcelona were temporarily ahead with 115 wins, 61 draws, and 100 losses.
Among active players, Messi led by a wide margin, having scored 26 goals in 43 El Clasico appearances against Real Madrid.
Messi had scored two hat tricks against Real Madrid.
In the more than one hundred years of El Clasico history, only Marti Ventolra of Barcelona had ever scored four goals in a match, back in 1935.
The showdown was about to begin.
As predicted by the Great Prophecy, Real Madrid had scored three goals at home in this morning's Champions League match!
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