Lionel Messi before creating history on Monday by winning his record sixth Ballon d’Or scored the winning goal in Barcelona’s clash against Atletico Madrid in La Liga and kept them on the top of the table. The brilliance of Leo Messi’s goal was summed up by the reaction of Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone as he stood there applauding the Barcelona forward's genius. The Argentine scored in the 86th minute of the game and helped the Catalan side to come away with all three points from the Spanish Capital. The Barcelona man continued his fantastic goal-scoring run against the side from Madrid as he netted his 30th goal in 35 appearances against them. Lionel Messi Poses With Antoine Griezmann After Winning Ballon d’Or 2019, Squashes Rumours of Rift Between the two (See Pic).

Diego Simeone has never tasted victory against Barcelona as a manager and he has his Argentina compatriot Messi to blame. The Barcelona captain was once again the undoing of Simeone’s side as he scored in the final minutes to give the Catalan side all three points. The goal was a thing of beauty as Messi played a one-two with strike-partner Luis Suarez before unleashing a left-foot curler past Jan Oblak in Atleti’s goal. Such was the quality of Messi’s strike that Diego Simeone himself stood in awe of the goal and appreciated the little magician’s brilliance. When asked about the goal in the post-match conference Simeone praised the strike and said, all you can do is applaud.  ‘With a great goal like that, all you can do is applaud. The move, when the counter-attack started, had the smell of great danger. He scored a golazo.’ the Atleti Coach added. This is not the first time Simeone was left astonished by Lionel Messi, as the Atletico coach has appreciated the Barcelona forward on many occasions for his spectacular performances. Virgil van Dijk Receives Praises from Barcelona After Liverpool Star Congratulates Lionel Messi for Winning Ballon d’Or 2019 (Watch Video).

Watch Simeone's Reaction

Lionel Messi's Goal

Lionel Messi on Monday cemented his legacy at the greatest player of all time when he won his sixth Ballon d’Or going past long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally of five. This is the first time Lionel Messi has won the award since 2015 and it was presented to him by last year’s winner Luka Modric.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 04, 2019 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).