The closest defender on the right, who should be collapsing in to double-team Messi, seems to grab his leg and will go down injured. Messi cuts left toward the hole left by that injured player, in front of his nearest defender, who sticks out his leg to stop him:
The defender only gets a slight touch of the ball. Messi catches his fall with an arm:
Messi quickly recovers, gets the ball to his feet, and now has the four-man backline to deal with. Cesc Fabregas (#4) is in an especially good position:
Fabregas reaches the line as Messi nudges left, keeping the ball on his stronger foot. The left full back correctly comes up to meet Messi, who might try a lob pass over the line into the hole Fabregas is running toward, but it now looks like the weakly marked Cristian Tello (#20) is the best option:
Messi nudges the ball left as Fabregas runs offside, confirming his probable intentions to play a give-and-go with Tello:
Instead, he oddly kicks the ball forward, through a defender's legs. The ball is struck with pace, and it seems to be intended for the ineligible Fabregas:
However, Messi has expertly struck the ball with the perfect amount of backspin so that it quickly slows down. Messi races for it while Fabregas, as required by the rules, stands out of the way:
Messi gets there first:
He kicks it left past the goalkeeper. Fabregas is back onside, but it doesn't look like he'll be needed for this one:
Gooooooooooooooool!:
No comments:
Post a Comment