Even an outsize star – or, in particular, an outsize star – can be irked. Here was Lionel Messi, waving his arms and muttering words, if not expletives. Neymar, the Argentine’s personal sub-genius at FC Barcelona, had fouled Atletico Madrid’s right-back Šime Vrjsaliko. The 1-1 scoreline and his own peripheral role frustrated Messi. Referee Miguel Lahoz didn’t flinch. He booked Messi for dissent in the 82nd minute.
Had it truly been Messi, or rather a feeble imitator, who had surreptitiously sneaked into the giant cauldron of the Vicente Calderon stadium to swap shirts with the mercurial talent, whose genteel game, arched on feints, sideway springs and a matrix of simple movements remain a surprise and trill in the global game?
The surrogate Messi offered little of all that. He looked a little heavy. The ball was still a yoyo to his feet, the joy was still tangible, but the speed – that acceleration within the acceleration – was off. Messi was a slow-mo, his hamstrings and other leg muscles mewling. Even his ginger-ish chin-fuzz contrived to a portrayal of dejection.
Indeed, Messi had experienced little joy away to Atletico Madrid. True, his expert free-kick, a fine act of precision, forced Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak into a gymnastic save, but much of the afternoon had been spent in loneliness, floating somewhere in a vast no-man’s-land, pummeled by the meticulous pressing of Diego Simeone’s unwavering collective.
Atletico had been a wonderful expression of Simeone’s philosophy: a no-nonsense approach by playing in block and lurking on the counter attack. This was almost the anti-thesis of the academic football that Barcelona, with elaborate triangulations and a labyrinth of other geometric forms, have always professed to play. Atletico Madrid encroached upon Barcelona’s penalty box time and again.
French poster boy Antoine Griezmann, with his hair locks shimmering in the sun, instigated Madrid’s resistance, organising their pressing game from the front. He often got into scoring positions, but failed to break the deadlock. This time his partnership with Kevin Gameiro wasn’t lethal. At least, their understanding was potent, shaming the puissance of the MSN triumvirate at the other end.
The South American trident was nigh invisible. Neymar tried. He ran, he drifted and he dribbled. At times the Brazilian tormented Atletico Madrid’s right channel. He demonstrated the same energetic attitude that had helped so little in the Champions League drubbing by Paris Saint-Germain. But both Messi and Suarez were circumferential in their play, almost insouciant.
Messi formed the tip of Barcelona’s midfield diamond as Catalan coach Luis Enrique chose a 3-4-3 formation, with Sergio Roberto playing higher up field, to counter Atletico Madrid. But even in this phalanx line-up, the Argentine registered little action in open play. It all boiled down – notwithstanding Rafinha’s opening goal, cancelled out by Diego Godin’s header – to that little snap, that minute outing of chagrin in the 82nd minute.
That little bit of public resentment from Messi spoke of Barcelona’s wobbles this season. The prime accusation leveled at the Catalan giants is a simple, but monstrous, one: they are not Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona anymore – the enigmatic, ‘football-gasmic’ version of Tika Taka has deserted Catalonia. The empirical evidence backs up the allegation.
Luis Suarez has given Barcelona more vertigo, but, in turn, the team’s game has become more stretched, foregoing the compactness and all-imposing domination of Guardiola’s Barcelona. The ailments of Enrique’s Barcelona are clear: Iniesta is aging and the team’s right channel is often very dysfunctional. By their own exacting standards, this Barcelona are mundane.
Yet for all the pent-up frustration and simmering discontent, a prosaic goal from Messi in the 86th minute delivered a reassuring and, possibly, season-saving three points for Barcelona. In tight space, inside the box, Samuel Umiti and Suarez crafted the pathway for Messi to knock the rebound of his own attempt past Oblak.
Simeone shrugged his head and Messi ran away in celebration. His late strike was priceless. Messi, the messiah, was the savior yet again, keeping his dwindling team in the title race.