Arsenal legend Thierry Henry believes that Barcelona star Lionel Messi's match-winning performance against Real Madrid on Sunday was in response to Cristiano Ronaldo's heroics in the Champions League.
Barcelona claimed a wonderful 3-2 victory over Real Madrid in the El Clasico on Sunday and superstar Lionel Messi was the hero for the Catalans, scoring twice during the encounter.
Messi clearly managed to outshine arch rival Ronaldo on the night and ex-Barcelona star Henry believes that the Argentine put up such a fantastic performance in response to his Portuguese adversary scoring 100 goals in the Champions League recently.
He said on Sky Sports: "Easy to tell you why it happened, Lionel Messi.
"They came with a plan, they did it ever so well. Ivan Rakitic scored an amazing goal but it does help because the man [Messi] wanted to do something today.
"He saw Ronaldo scoring his 100th goal in the Champions League before him. He saw that and he had to respond. I've said it so many times – Ronaldo helped Messi to be better, and Messi helps Ronaldo to be better.
"We saw that again – he had to respond to what Ronaldo did in midweek."