Messi Turning Boateng Into A Folding Chair Voted Best Goal Of UCL Season

Ahead of the Champions League group stage draw today, UEFA handed out its award for best goal of last season’s tournament. Naturally, it went to this Lionel Messi stunner during that heavyweight fight that was Barcelona-Bayern Munich. I could stare at this GIF for hours:

What make Messi goals so spectacular is how he always manages to give his jaw-dropping runs and dribbles the endings they deserve. Often in the duration of a soccer game you’ll see a player humiliate a defender or two on his way into scoring position, but right when he could turn what was something pretty cool into something special, he misses the shot.

Messi has produced so many special moments over the years that instead of watching him squeeze between and past defenders and thinking Oh man, I hope he scores at the end of this, you find yourself rapt with anticipation, knowing good and well that the cap to his run will be as amazing as what led up to it.

This goal will fight it out with a dozen or so others among Messi’s all-time best ( some also from last season) so it makes sense that fans named it the best of the year. And don’t feel too bad for now being a part of history, Jérôme Boateng. He pretty much does that to everyone.