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Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé
Photo:
GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
Barcelona needed four goals, but the ball just wouldn't go in, and Ousmane Dembélé alone had missed four chances.
So Lionel Messi took over.
In the 37th minute of the game at Paris Saint-Germain, he received the ball to make a lot of green, the way to the penalty area far.
Messi pushed the ball forward a little, indicating a hook, but instead of dribbling, he pulled.
The ball first flew straight towards the goal, then it turned to the left away into the net.
A dream goal, but that wasn't enough.
Messi, 33, and FC Barcelona are out of the Champions League.
The team lost 1: 4 in the first leg of the last 16, the second leg in Paris on Wednesday evening ended 1: 1.
Barça had a number of chances, with Messi mostly involved.
But he also missed a penalty and stayed with two goals for 180 minutes.
The Parisian Kylian Mbappé shot four.
Premier class without kings
Before Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo was also kicked out on Tuesday, for the first time since 2005 they are both absent from the quarter-finals.
The premier class is without its kings.
Maybe she has already found her new one.
Mbappé, 22, and Dortmund's Erling Haaland, 20, had more goals after their appearances in the first leg of the last 16.
One of them became world champions with France, was in the Champions League final, against Barcelona he was the decisive player, not Messi.
The other is currently directly involved in an average of almost one and a half hits per 90 minutes;
probably every self-respecting club would like to have him in its ranks.
It is clear that the European Cup stage will belong to Mbappé and Haaland in the upcoming games.
But maybe they own even more.
Shouldn't we be starting to mention their names when it comes to the world's best footballers?
What does it take to be considered the best?
The answer to this is, of course, partly subjective.
The football industry mostly distinguishes offensive players.
No wonder, playmakers like Xavi once or defenders like Manchester City's Ruben Diás currently have an enormous influence on the game, but you don't recognize him as easily as with attackers.
Goals are hard to miss.
However, many hits alone are not a good guide.
No one would suggest Son Heung-min.
For about a month this season, however, the Tottenham striker could not be defended.
In the first half of the season he scored once over four weeks from the most absurd distances in the goal, on average he came to 3.1 goal participations per 90 minutes.
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Son Heung-min and his strike partner Harry Kane
Photo: JULIAN FINNEY / AFP
His run is now over and the Spurs are seventh.
Whether Son was the most formidable striker in world football or had a lucky streak: His case shows that it should take more than scoring many goals in a short period of time in order to be counted among the best.
It takes constancy, the ability to consistently call up one's abilities, even on the largest stage when the pressure is at its highest.
Messi was considered the best by many over the years.
Not only did he score incredibly often, as did Ronaldo.
Messi was a master of everything that belonged to the game.
He analyzed opposing formations, identified weak points and exploited them in a targeted manner, with dribbling, with passes, with a sense of space.
He was physically superior to opponents by dribbling faster than they were chasing him without the ball;
he was cognitively superior to them in that he could interpret movements in fractions of a second and react accordingly;
and he was superior to them when it came to understanding football.
Messi's understanding of the game also flashed on Wednesday evening in Paris.
Once he shows a teammate with an outstretched arm where he should play the ball: Not to himself, Messi, but to a teammate on the far right.
The pass comes as ordered by Messi, moments later almost a goal is scored.
Again and again he recognizes gaps behind the Paris defense and plays passes into the depths.
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Still in the spotlight when he's on the pitch: Messi
Photo:
GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
At the same time, the game also showed what Messi is now missing.
Even his dream goal made it clear.
The Argentine has scored over 700 competitive goals in his career, but there are hardly any violent shots among them.
He avoided them.
The chances of scoring a goal from long-range shots are low, Messi chose his degrees with care.
Ten years ago he would have dribbled past his opponents in a scene like the one against Paris, but he is now noticeably lacking that dynamic of yore.
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Kylian Mbappé: scorer from the penalty spot
Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP
Mbappé looks even more dynamic than Messi at his weddings.
He is fast like few other footballers in the world, seems to be jumping across the lawn with long strides, as if there were trampolines lined up under him.
He's a master dribbler, and he combines all of that with smart moves and decisions.
The 90 minutes in Paris also showed what separates him from Messi.
PSG's tactics were geared towards Mbappé's strengths.
The striker played higher than the rest of the Parisians on his left side.
As soon as the team captured the ball, Mbappé went looking for it.
On the one hand, this resulted in few scoring chances because Mbappé was well guarded and defended with great rigor.
Above all, Paris was missing out on something that was urgently needed: possession of the ball and the calm that came with it.
So it happened that the club had to fear from the first leg despite the 4-1 lead.
Taking the pace out of the game and thus Barcelona the momentum would not have been a spectacular decision, but a clever one.
Mbappé didn't meet her, but he can be trusted that he will develop strongly in this regard.
And Haaland?
His athleticism is also noticeable with him.
Wherever Mbappé runs away from opponents, he rams them aside when in doubt, which was also the case in the 2-2 win against Sevilla.
Like Mbappé, he has a lot more to offer than body and speed.
Haaland's decision-making is splendid, as a 19-year-old he didn't shoot on goal as soon as the opportunity arose, but only when the prospect of success was particularly high.
His walks are also remarkably good.
Haaland, however, is more focused on breakthroughs to the goal than Mbappé.
He's brilliant at getting away from defenders and that alone can take teams to victory.
But even in the Bundesliga there is a striker who also scores constantly, but also helps to organize his team's offensive.
Robert Lewandowski has to be named when it comes to the best footballer.
It just reached its current level at the beginning of the last season.
Before that, he lacked some of the best in the world.
Now that he's reached her, he's already 32.
The future will no longer bear the name Lewandowski, not that of Ronaldo.
Not even the name Messi.
But for all aspiring footballers, Messi's achievements over the past few years are the benchmark in world football.
A benchmark that is so high that no one can currently reach it.
Including himself.
Icon: The mirror
