King Leo and the dukes of tiki-taka

Ha, it's easy to be that lethal when you have Ronaldinho alongside.

Of course, he is the best when he's got Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets to supply him with balls.

Name me a '10' that looked mediocre paired up with Luis Suarez.

He walks on the pitch.

He looks sad.

The guy wants to run the club, not to be a playmaker.

And so on, and so on... You must've heard of at least two or three of the above-mentioned critics regarding Lionel Messi in the past 16 years. Doubts of his ingeniousness and unique abilities have been a common thing ever since he netted thanks to that wonderful chip on his debut at Camp Nou in 2005. However, the tiny Argentine has managed to deny those false allegations, one by one, as time went by, with the amount of his out-of-this-world performances reaching three-digit numbers.

The last one, against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup finals on Saturday night at the age of 33, should really put an end to all uncertainties when it comes to his greatness. That jaw-dropping brace in a landslide 4-0 victory serves as maybe the crucial evidence that he is one of the best players this beautiful game has ever seen.

Messi's double as Barca destroys Bilbao in Copa Del Rey final

It's been over a decade since Ronaldinho departed from Barca; Xavi and Iniesta are years and miles away from Blaugrana; Luis Suarez is Atletico's go-to guy - literally, everything has changed in Barcelona except for sensational Messi, who keeps entertaining masses long after he was written off by many pundits, fans and tacticians themselves.

What's even more astonishing is that now he pulled off almost the replica of the goal he scored against Athletic in the same competition six years ago, only then at his home turf. Some of that Maradona's ilk that Messi has always nurtured in his moves with the ball emerged once again in this Copa del Rey (The King Cup; in Spanish) finals.

If you are a stats-freak rather than a genuine football lover, then just check Leo's numbers: he has scored an impressive 31 goals in 34 finals for Barca, the guy netted at least 30 times in 13 different seasons, and has won 35 titles with Barcelona since his debut (in comparison, Real Madrid clinched 22 during the same period)! Not too bad, huh...

Finally, it would be a sin not to show you once again that crazy Barca's goal for 4-0. It came - of course, with Messi as an executioner - after as many as 60 PASSES. Accurate, of course. Careful, patient, technically perfect. The infamous tiki-taka in a nutshell, with Koeman's boys proving that this ages-old football philosophy is not dead.

You can't write Barcelona's slogan 'Mes que un club' ('More than a club') without Messi.

By: BOJAN BABIĆ