There's no greater football myth than “Messi is a one-way dribbler.” He chose to be.
I've seen Messi out-juggle Neymar, the guy we all consider more skillful and aesthetic. I've seen him manipulate the ball at a level I've rarely seen from anyone. Hell, I've even seen him do it while sitting down. ���
So clearly, Messi could do all those things we call “skills.” Stepovers, tricks, flicks, all of it. He just rarely used them during actual matches.
Why?
Because Messi is probably the most efficient footballer we've ever seen.
Why spend a whole minute doing stepovers to beat a defender when you can just nutmeg him, burst past him in five seconds and finish the move with a goal?
Messi understood football on a level nobody else did. He didn't play football like he was trying to show you what he could do.
He played it like he was born to do it.
Because he actually was.
At 19 y’all, 19! 😭
The fact that the team trusts him enough to vote for him says everything
The level of maturity, confidence and balls lamine has is absolutely insane
🚨🤩 RECORD HISTORIQUE POUR LAMINE YAMAL !
À seulement 19 ans, Lamine Yamal devient le plus jeune capitaine de l’histoire du FC Barcelone. 👑
Il détrône Bojan Krkić, ancien détenteur du record à 20 ans et 56 jours.
Raphinha has officially been voted Barcelona’s first captain by the players.
Pedri remains 2nd, while Frenkie de Jong is 3rd, Eric García 4th, and Lamine Yamal 5th
@Linusss24 He was genuinely such a devastating force of nature back then. So frightening to play against. I guess the athletic changes started kicking in.
He’s not so outstanding at scoring that the other extremely important parts of the game don’t matter much, nor is he so damn gifted at the parts of the game aside scoring, that even when he misses countless clear opportunities, they can still be overlooked. It ain’t 2022 anymore.