Lionel Messi passed up the chance to net his 300th La Liga goal and instead put a hat-trick on a plate for teammate Luis Suarez with an outrageous penalty routine that evoked memories of Barcelona great Johan Cruyff on Sunday.
With Barcelona leading Celta Vigo 3-1 at a buzzing Nou Camp, Messi stepped forward in the 81st minute to take the spot-kick but stunned the crowd by tapping the ball to the side for Suarez, who raced into the box and fired past bewildered goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.
Messi and Suarez wheeled away in glee and were quickly mobbed by their teammates, who looked as surprised as anyone.
The goal took Suarez onto 23 in the league this season, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Barcelona finished the match 6-1 winners.
Coach Luis Enrique rejected suggestions the penalty was intended to embarrass the opposition and said he had seen his attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar produce moments of magic in training.
“There will be those who like it and those who don’t,” he told reporters. “As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting manner. You can take a penalty like that, it’s legal and there’s a Cruyff penalty we all know.”
Dutch great Cruyff pulled off a similar trick while playing for Ajax against Helmond Sport in 1982, squaring the ball for teammate Jesper Olsen, who then passed it back to him to score.
Cruyff played for Barcelona from 1973 to 1978.
Frenchmen Robert Pires and Thierry Henry tried a similar trick for Arsenal against Manchester City in 2005 but got into a muddle and failed to score.
Luis Enrique said it was not something he would try. “I wouldn’t dare take it like that because I’d fall over when I put my foot on the ball,” he said.
The coach added there was nothing arrogant about Messi’s penalty and said there was a tendency in Spain to look down on moments of skill.
“In this country, a kick (at an opponent) is more readily accepted than anything fancy,” he added.
“We don’t care about that. What we have to do is enjoy our football, respect our opponents, try to show we’re better through football. I’m sorry but I don’t think anything special happened. I’m used to seeing them train and there they are even better.”
Barca forward Neymar also denied it was a lack of respect, saying: “Nobody should feel offended by it. What we try to do always is win and also entertain the fans.”  
But Spanish football was divided in its views. An online poll taken by sports daily Marca showed 53 per cent of readers with the opinion that the penalty “was a clear lack of respect for the opponents”.
Celta coach Eduardo Berizzo, though, said he was not annoyed by the penalty. “It was not that penalty that annoyed me but letting in six goals.  The manner of the goals did not really bother me. The penalty was not a lack of respect.”
However, several Celta players looked annoyed, and a few of them expressed their irritation to Messi at the end. Madrid’s Radio Marca claimed that “the Barca players showed a lack of respect with a penalty like that... The annoyance of the Celta players is understandable”.