Daniel Avellaneda
07/04/2021 20:45
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 07/04/2021 21:43
Almost without our being able to realize it from Ushuaia to La Quiaca, Lionel Messi began
his celestial and white metamorphosis
.
He stopped suffering from the National Team
, from being tormented by the elusive glory, the one that prompted him to say
"enough for me"
five years ago, after the fourth lost final.
There is no longer a circumspect face and he
even sings the Hymn with passion
, something that was also the subject of criticism for the
sommeliers of patriotism
.
Today the crack is
lit up
like that smile that he usually displays in every moment of Ezeiza's privacy.
And from that state of mind, with just 34 years of age, we found
the best version
of La
Pulga
with the Argentine shirt.
When was the click?
Why at the height of his generation was he not enjoying himself as much as he is now, just as he begins to enter the final stage of his career?
Having been so close to the golden cup that Diego raised in '86, an image as viral as it is sad for Argentines, and the string of defeats against Chile in the 2015 and 2016 American Cups,
were very hard blows.
Also, the anticipated goodbye in the World Cup in Russia, the last hope of that group of footballers who will be marked by fire for the second places.
And of that angry Messi who was silent for 9 months until he came out publicly
to acknowledge that he was tired of being
"killed"
in the National Team, everything changed with the renewal.
Gone is a past of frustrations,
the backpack of friends,
the overload of responsibility.
"We are looking for a team, not a savior,"
said Lionel Scaloni.
And after a Copa América in which he made more noise for declaring war on VAR and Conmebol than for his football, he emerged
splendidly
in Brazil.
Symbols: the tattoos, the ribbon, the number 10. Photo EFE / Fernando Bizerra
Messi is playing his best tournament with the National Team.
It was gravitating in every game.
He participated in 8 of the 10 goals for Argentina.
Four carried their own label, four were produced thanks to their assists.
The complementary statistics confirm his great moment:
Leo
scores a goal every 113 minutes;
he averages above two shots on goal (2.2) per game which rises to almost five (4.8) if all shots are taken into account, including deflected ones.
It also ensures
3 key passes per game
.
As Rodrigo De Paul, one of the Rosario captain's squires said: "We know that
with Messi everything is easier."
What is transmitted from the inside out
is not a staging
: the images of the players preparing the barbecue or dancing to the rhythm of
Papu
Gómez mark the internal pulse.
Messi is the leader
, everyone respects him, but there is no worth social distancing;
on the contrary,
there is a communion
,
there is no longer the famous
small table
.
And that opening of Messi himself is energizing for the group that was assembled in the National Team.
Messi climbs on Di María while Lautaro Martínez arrives: all with the captain.
Photo EFE / Alberto Valdés
“
We all follow him
.
Leo
always makes a difference and we will accompany him in everything, as we have been doing. Everyone is on the same side, the young and the old, too, so we are happy and we are going for everything, ”said Lautaro Martínez.
How much will
the turbulence that the star experienced in Barcelona
have had to do
in
the last year for him to find
a haven of peace
in the National Team? The departure of his friend Luis Suárez, the confrontation with Josep María Bartomeu, the threat of exodus, the League that escaped him against Diego Simeone's Atlético de Madrid, the criticisms that he had almost never heard in Spain. Although it is a momentary situation, Messi today only has one shirt, that of Argentina.
And he's honoring her.
“The best thing that can happen to us, as football lovers, is to enjoy Messi.
I wish I can play for many years, "reflected Scaloni after the win against Ecuador.
Beyond the unevenness of the National Team, the crack leads Argentina to a new final.
Will the fifth be the charm?
De
Leo
all depends.
Look also
The insinuating winks of Barcelona while Messi, without a contract, shines with Argentina
Scaloni, surrendered at the feet of Lionel Messi: "We are talking about the best of all time"
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