At this point, it would fit the narrative if Lionel Messi suddenly, in a ray of blinding light, ascended into heaven.
With Barcelona looking to crawl back to within a point of Real Madrid in the La Liga table, the Catalans led 1-0 over Deportivo La Coruna when Lionel Messi performed his weekly miracle.
On the half-hour mark, Luis Suarez was dispossessed in the Deportivo box by the clogged defensive line, but Messi came flying in as if he had anticipated the entire play moments before it happened. Instead of bundling over under the lunging challenge from Deportivo defender Sidnei, as most Premier League strikers likely would have, Messi continued barreling towards the net on the ball.
Goalkeeper Fabricio also tried to thwart the Barcelona striker/soccer magician by reaching out to topple the little streak of light, but he couldn’t bring down Messi either, and the ball popped up and into the net.
The goal is Messi’s second of the game, which equals Telmo Zarra’s La Liga record of 76 league braces in a career. He’d later get his hat-trick, obviously.
It’s so refreshing, in the days where we’ve seen feeble strides by FIFA towards scrubbing dives out of the game, to see a player like Messi. Continually the 27-year-old superstar looks to score goals rather than earn penalties, and not only is he better for it but the game is better for it as well.
May we all reap the benefits of Messi’s wondrous and heavenly skills on the soccer field, because if you don’t enjoy that, you don’t enjoy soccer.
