Barcelona legend Lionel Messi's goals lead to earthquakes, claims study

BARCELONA: Though it is difficult to believe but a scientific study has now shown that Barcelona legend Lionel Messi's goals can even lead to earthquakes!

Considered as one of the world's greatest football players, Messi surely has the abilities to hit earthquake-inducing goals by causing the ground to literally shake from celebrations each time he sends the ball into the net.

A recent research, conducted by the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera and published in Nature's Scientific Reports, shows how powerful football celebrations can be, according to a Forbes report. 

The researchers installed a seismometer -  an instrument to measure seismic activity in the earth -  near the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. By measuring vibrations in the Earth, the scientists were able to show every time fans celebrated a goal in Camp Nou stadium, the foot-tapping and jumping of fans caused a clear spike in the seismic activity proximal to the stadium.

One of the major highlights of the study was the recording of fan moments during a last-minute goal by Barcelona to claim a 6-5 win over Paris Saint-Germaine in 2017 season of the Champions League.

The research proved that the La Liga giants, besides their opponents, were actually capable of literally leaving the earth-shaking each time when fans celebrate their goals.

Besides Messi, there are just a handful of football players in the world who are more powerful and as impactful as the Barca legend. 

The researchers in past have studied the vibrations caused during music concerts and compared it to football matches. They found that football matches are normally quiet until a home goal is scored, which suddenly triggers a spike in the seismic activity proximal to the stadium.

Meanwhile, during music concerts, there is much more of a rhythm to the shaking throughout a song with clear pauses in shaking during breaks between songs.

The researchers now plan to study how traffic around Camp Nou shakes the Earth. They intend to study how the rush hour and traffic flow impacts seismic patterns. 

However, the study showed that the mini-earthquakes triggered by Messi's goals posed no threats of serious nature.

Messi, who plays for the Spanish club Barcelona, was born and raised in central Argentina. He is regarded as the best player in the world and perhaps the greatest player of all time.