Penalty of the century or a lack of respect? Fans blown away by Lionel Messi’s stunner from the spot

Barcelona had football fans agog as they demolished Celta Vigo 6-1 – capped with an audacious penalty ‘assist’ from Lionel Messi to tee up Luis Suarez for a hat trick.

In an apparent tribute to former Barca legend Johan Cruyff, Messi feinted to lash the penalty into the top corner before rolling it sideways for Suarez to score his third.

That – and a cheeky rainbow flick from Neymar moments later – had fans on social media hailing the Spanish side as football’s equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters, though some killjoys complained that the penalty should have been retaken as Suarez was encroaching on the area.

“[The penalty] was designed for me, we had practised it, but Luis was closer,” Neymar told Barca TV.

“It doesn’t matter, he scored so it worked well.”