Lionel Messi stunned the footballing world once more on Wednesday night after all but putting the Champions League final out of the reach of Liverpool.

Two goals inside eight minutes, the second an unstoppable trademark free-kick, saw the magician score his 600th goal for Barcelona.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he did so exactly 14 years after finding the back of the net for the first time for the club.

READ MORE: Barcelona thrash Liverpool to take control of Champions League semi-final

READ MORE: Liverpool condemn behaviour of fans in Barcelona

Football on BT Sport said Messi was ‘not from this earth’.

The 32-year-old’s brace sprung the match and Twitter to life. Gary Lineker said ‘the little genius defies logic’.

One of the greatest to have ever graced a football pitch has now scored 12 goals in the Champions League this campaign and will be looking to add to the impressive accolades already collected, as listed by Sporf.

Yahoo Sport’s The Football Show presenter and Liverpool fan Toby Tarrant was at the game, and despite the loss, described it as an ‘honour to watch Messi play’.

The Argentinean’s former team mate Cesc Fabregas said he was the difference between the two sides.

Messi would surely be favourite to lift the Ballon D’or once more should he lead Barcelona to Champions League glory again. UEFA certainly liked it.

Featured from our writers:

• Lionel Messi’s best performances against English clubs

• Aaron Ramsey's Arsenal career over after hamstring injury rules him out for season

• Eight arrests and three Police officers injured before Tottenham v Ajax