Lionel Messi units up his shot at future with throwback brilliance
The reality is something else. In fact, watching Messi here the opposite seemed to be the case.
This was not just a performance of edge and thrust and decisive moments but all of those things carved out of the air in his own unique physical style, a footballer capable, at 35, of basically making this thing up in his own image.
The small, badger-ish figure in the baggy blue and white shirt, that man out there turning the game against the iron fist of the Croatia midfield, is already the best footballer who has ever played.
He has been for ages, was also the last time he reached a World Cup final, eight years ago, just in a slightly different guise.
There were 69 minutes gone when Messi took the ball on the right
He dropped a shoulder. He jinked. Wait. He’s doing Messi redux. He’s doing the winger thing.
Messi led Josko Gvardiol into the area, holding his man off, touching the ball constantly like a woodpecker hammering at a piece of bark.
From there Messi had the space to roll the ball back at 45 degrees for Julián Álvarez to kill the game. The run, the pass, the finish, it all felt like a kind of mnemonic, a memento Messi, another ghost at this World Cup of ghosts.
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