Lionel Messi Uses Penalty Kick to Set Up Luis Suarez Hat Trick Goal

Lionel Messi is clearly a giving teammate. On Sunday during Barcelona’s 6-1 destruction of Celta Vigo, Messi lined up for a penalty kick in the 81st minute. While everyone was surely looking for him to send a shot on goal, Messi essentially pulled the rug out from under Celta keeper Sergio Alvarez.

As he approached the ball, Messi dropped tapped the ball to his right, into the path of a sprinting Luis Suarez, who buried the ball in the bottom right corner of the net for his third goal of the game.

That was absolutely brilliant and I’m shocked that I’ve never seen it before. The play is completely legal, as players can enter the 18-yard box as soon as the penalty taker touches the ball. Clearly Celta was so focused on Messi they didn’t pick up on what was going on. This is totally one of those things someone comes up with on the training ground and when you’re up 3-1 that’s when you throw things like this out. It worked and I’d be surprised if we don’t see more teams try it.

We may have stumbled upon the new Panenka.

UPDATE: The penalty was apparently an ode to former Dutch player and coach Johan Cruyff, who is battling cancer. Cruyff apparently pulled off the same play once.

Cruyff was a three-time Ballon d’Or winner who played at Barcelona from 1973-78, and managed the team from 1988-96.