The old Messi, the new Messi

In the second part of the match against Australia, Leo Messi did a slalom.

He started like his best races: with his back to the opponent's goal and getting away from the opponents by feinting them on the left, his natural side, to release himself from the chains on the opposite side.

On his way through the center of the field he was overtaken by two, who he left behind with acceleration.

And already in the area he tried so many times, look for the left side to finish off on goal.

He could not for tenths, those that have fallen from his body as he turned years;

the ones that made him the only player in the world who knew what he was going to do, and even then you couldn't stop him: the speed of thought and execution of a superior footballer.

It was, however, the most romantic action of the game: the old Messi trying to recover a part of himself, the most colorful, the one that left the planet amazed: the 10 that started and carried off the opponents hanging from his ankles.

Messi against biology, against time, against destiny;

Messi trying to score his usual goal: reach the area after dancing to half the team and, with supernatural strength, beat the last mark from the outside and beat the goalkeeper.

It was something beautiful, because in those seconds the feeling of disbelief of millions of people was impressive: it can't be true that he's doing it again, it can't be true that this is happening.

Even when?

The victory of Messi is knowing how to be Messi based on the opponents, his mental and physical state;

before he could be Messi when he wanted to.

Today it can be when he sees signs of weakness in his rival, like those predators who, faced with a herd of deer, know how to choose the sick, the weak, the overwhelmed.

With Australia losing in the second half, and the team confused and dazed, Messi nearly planted the World Cup goal in their faces.

He lacked a bit;

Given the lack of speed tip already in the area, he tried a pipe.

He slowly dies the physique, but the quality and intelligence is activated in a prodigious way.

That is why his twilight is well capable of winning the Cup. Because so many years of football come to an end now, when he has more time to think with his head than with his legs.

Against Mexico, he needed oriented control, which definitely pushed his mark away, to place the ball in a corner.

Against Australia he didn't need a check, just a slow shot to the nearest place the goalkeeper couldn't reach.

That distance will become more and more adjusted, because Messi is already a matter of millimeters.

He will not need to run mad from one end to another.

It will be enough to stand out, assist and shoot at the only places on the field in which, due to the same difference that he can no longer be the old Messi, the opponents will not be able to stop the new one.

Subscribe here

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber