Getty Lionel Messi celebrates vs Athletic
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi couldn’t hide his delight at Pedri’s assist for his goal against Athletic in La Liga on Wednesday at San Mames.
The Argentine put Barca 2-1 up after 38 minutes following some great play between the two players that culminated in Pedri neatly backheeling the ball back to Messi to finish.
Messi’s face lit up after netting his 11th goal of the season for Barcelona and he couldn’t wait to celebrate with his young team-mate.
Pedri only arrived at the Camp Nou in the summer from Las Palmas but already seems to have struck up a superb partnership with the 33-year-old. Supporters are also enjoying seeing the duo in action for the Catalan giants.
Messi looking happiest he’s been in long, long time.
Pedri could genuinely keep Messi at this club.
We’ll say it again and again, Pedri has got Blaugrana blood running through his veins ❤️💙
His combination with Messi is just poetic✨
Messi’s reaction to Pedri is phenomenal. €500m spent trying to help him and along comes a kid who cost nothing. You cannot buy football intelligence. Wonderful kid.
Amid all the crap in the world at least we have the consolation of seeing Lionel Messi enjoy football again. Mostly thanks to Pedri. What an extraordinary talent.
Pedri already appears to have earned the trust of coach Ronald Koeman as he’s featured in every Barcelona game in La Liga so far in 2020-21, but he also appears to have won over his captain too.
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Pedri Sets San Mames Record
Pedri’s goal and assist ensured the teenager wrote his name into the history books at San Mames. The Barcelona starlet is the youngest player to achieve the feat at the new home of Athletic in La Liga.
1 – Aged 18 years and 42 days, @FCBarcelona‘s Pedri González 🇪🇸 has become the youngest player to both score and assist in a @LaLigaEN game at new San Mamés. Baptism.
The teenager is certainly making his presence felt in Spain’s top flight in what is his first season in La Liga. He scored his first goal in the competition in Barca’s 5-2 win over Real Betis and picked up his first assist against Real Valladolid.
Pedri also posted an impressive statistic last time out in his team’s 1-0 win over bottom side Huesca.
95 – @FCBarcelona‘s Pedri González 🇪🇸 made 95 touches against Huesca (9 in the opposite box), the most by a player born in 2000 or later in a @LaLigaEN game. Silk.
Barca appear to have picked up an absolute gem in Pedri. There was talk at the start of the season that the youngster could go out on loan in order to play regularly, but the decision to keep him at the Camp Nou has been a good one.
Pedri Making Messi Happy?
The emergence of Pedri at Barcelona comes at a good time in a season of transition for the Catalan giants. The team have endured a disappointing start to the campaign but the performances of Pedri offer hope for the future.
Barca have plenty of other young talent in the squad with the likes of Sergino Dest, Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati, and Frenkie de Jong which suggests the future at the Camp Nou is bright.
Yet one player the club will also want to keep hold of is Messi. The captain is out of contract at the end of the season and able to walk away for free. He told Barca he wanted to leave last summer and has said he’s not yet made a decision on what to do next.
Messi will certainly take some convincing to stay at Barcelona, but fans will hope his blossoming relationship with young Pedri can help convince the Argentinat international to continue at the Camp Nou after all.
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