Barcelona v Man Utd: First Goalscorer

A measure of true greatness is a player who performs on the biggest stage, when it matters most. Lionel Messi at 23-years-old is already spoken of as one of the best footballers of all time. On Saturday he has the chance to prove once again that he deserves his place among the immortals of the game. WilliamHill entice us to stay with the obvious choice in the first goalscorer market; the Argentine superstar is 5/1 to break the deadlock in the Champions League final.

With several firms dipping as low as 7/2 on Messi scoring first, we find ourselves some value where perhaps it should be least expected. The South American has proven very recently that he revels in the biggest arenas. His two goals at the Bernabeau in the semi-final first leg all but condemned Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.

For those thinking that the Barcelona team are full to the brim with prolific goalscorers, the stats suggest this is some way from the truth. Messi has a remarkable 52 goals in 54 appearances for the campaign. Next in line, an astonishing 30 goals off that strike-rate, is David Villa with 22 goals in 51 appearances. The third main striker, Pedro has made a very similar contribution with 21 goals in 52 games. But are there poaching midfielders to consider? Not really. For all the delights of Iniesta and Xavi, they have notched nine and five respectively, with Keita chipping in with six.

For us to look past Messi in this market, there would have to be a serious divergence in the odds to reflect these statistics. Remember, he is more than twice as likely to score than any of his team-mates. Villa is a best price of 7/1 with Boylesports. Pedro can be snapped up at 17/2 with VictorChandler. The latter is therefore the more compelling alternative, but neither look better than the 5/1 WilliamHill slap on the Argentine goal machine.

The same firm will entice some United fans with 8/1 on Rooney and 9/1 for Hernandez to score first. But in a game we must expect Barcelona to win, the first goalscorer market still belongs to the best player on the planet. Back Messi at 5/1.