Messi Torches Athletic Bilbao Defense for Sensational Goal

Messi's run began a short time before, but about halfway through it, ESPN's play-by-play man simply said "that's ridiculous," and he was dead on. Messi took the ball around midfield and, at first, slowly worked his way around the Athletic Bilbao defenders. Then he picked up the pace and just tore right through them, dribbling circles around a group of three defenders and then stopping on dime and cutting in front of his final defender, before hooking a ball inside the near post.

The goal came in the 20th minute and put Barcelona up 1-0 over Athletic in the Copa Del Ray final. Neymar made it 2-0 shortly thereafter on a quintessential Barca goal.

Here's a look at Messi's full run:

Update: Messi makes it 3-0 Barca with a nice little flick shot of a cross from Dani Alves. He cut between two Athletic defenders and just snapped it in with an outside touch on his left foot. Athletic got one back in the 80th minute to make it 3-1, but this one seems settled for the Barca Boys.

[ESPN2]