Worth the money? Lionel Messi delivers reminder of his genius as Barcelona ace scores cool free-kick

Lionel Messi scored a stunning free-kick on his LaLiga return from suspension to open the scoring in Barcelona‘s match with Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. 

The Barcelona captain curled home the set piece from 25 yards out, despite Bilbao defender Yeray Alvarez’s best efforts to stop the free-kick on the goalline. 

It was Messi’s 650th goal for Barcelona and came in his first league game back since being sent off in the Spanish Super Cup final defeat to Athletic earlier this month. 

Lionel Messi scored a great free-kick to open the scoring for Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao

The Barcelona captain curled home from 25 yards, even with one Athletic player on the line

Ronald Koeman’s side went into Sunday night’s game at the Camp Nou looking to move into second-place after Real Madrid’s shock home loss to Levante on Saturday. 

Victory for Barcelona would move them ten points behind LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid, who won 4-2 at Cadiz earlier on Sunday. 

Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate, Luis Suarez, scored a direct free-kick himself for Diego Simeone’s side as they kept their lead at the top of the Spanish top-flight.  

Messi’s superb goal came on the same day the Argentinian’s bumper Barcelona contract was leaked by Spanish newspaper El Mundo. 

It was Messi’s 650th goal for Barcelona, in his first LaLiga game since a red card suspension

The shocking and revealing report showed Messi’s current deal will end up costing Barcelona €555million (£492m) when it concludes this summer. The four-year deal was signed in 2017 and will end this June when the 33-year-old will be able to leave for nothing. 

Messi has been guaranteed €138m (£122m) a season in gross salary according to the leaked contract.

He earned a ‘renewal fee’ of €115m (£102m) for accepting the contract and is said to take home €79m (£69m) each year in a ‘loyalty’ bonus for staying at the Nou Camp.

The goal came on the same day Messi’s contract details were leaked by newspaper El Mundo 

The report from El Mundo goes on to claim that Messi still has five months left on his current deal and has already earned an eye-watering £452m (€511m) so far. 

As a part of his current deal, Messi earned an extra £616,172 (€695,748) for winning FIFA’s Best Player award during the 2018-19 campaign.

The Argentine is also guaranteed a whopping £3.1m (€3.5m) if Barcelona win the Champions League – something the club hasn’t achieved since 2015.

The leak was published by the newspaper on Sunday morning and has infuriated Messi’s camp

Other variables include Messi banking another £1.75m (€1.9m) if he plays 60 per cent of games while he will receive extra payments each knockout stage of the Champions League he reached, as well as winning LaLiga and the Copa del Rey.

The leak has infuriated Messi’s camp who are now looking to prepare a lawsuit against El Mundo as a result. 

Messi’s contract reveal comes days after the club published their financial report for 2019-20 which revealed a gross debt of €1.2billion (£1bn). 

That debt includes a short-term debt of €720m (£638m), €266m (£236m) of which is owed to various banks and financial institutions and needs to be paid before June 30.