He may as well have gone down the tunnel early for all the use he was for the last couple of minutes. Not often you say that about Messi!
I have noticed that about him before. I'm sorry but, players who used to do that were called Matt Le Tissier and were considered luxury players. What changed in the intervening years..?
With Messi it's all gameplan though, Barca don't need nor want him to do anything more than he does. All that time he's standing still he's also being marked by at least two opposition players, and of course his languid moments makes it all the more effective when he bursts into life. It's Barca to a T, they let the ball do all the work. Of course you can say a lot of those things about Le Tiss, he could certainly make the ball work. And besides, this time he was actually injured and just hovering near the sideline.
Not a great analogy...the Asda brand could be better quality but lacking the hype of Coca Cola.....although it seem an odd sub.....lets see if it works
Of course, the difference is that Le Tiss was unappreciated, apart from a few of his fellow pros who totally got the idea, but they overlook that in Messi. Yet they're very much the same type of player. Wrong team, wrong era, I guess.
