Let’s play a game of “Spot the Imposter,” superstar edition:
- Player A: 6-foot-9, 250 pounds
- Player B: 6-0, 200 pounds
- Player C: 5-7, 148 pounds
- Player D: 6-4, 210 pounds
- Player E: 6-2, 225 pounds
The first obvious choice is player C, as “small and lightweight” isn’t the typical winning formula against other world-class athletes. Everyone else in the lineup seems like a more reasonable ratio of height and weight to hold their own.
Well, let’s look behind the curtain.
- Player A: LeBron James (four-time NBA champion, four-time NBA MVP)
- Player B: Me (former high school goalkeeper who eats more Tillamook ice cream than I should admit)
- Player C: Lionel Messi (eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, 10 La Liga titles, 2022 World Cup champion)
- Player D: Shohei Ohtani (four-time MLB MVP, two-time World Series champion)
- Player E: Patrick Mahomes (three-time Super Bowl champion and MVP, two-time NFL MVP)
Stats and accolades reported by ESPN (other than the imposter).
This begs the question, if Messi doesn’t fit the physical “superstar” mold we find in all other major men’s sports leagues in the United States, how did he become the greatest to ever play the game?
There are many factors, including the fact that he is still a world-class athlete. My theory is that it comes down to his ability to create and exploit space for him and his teammates at an extremely high rate, even when that contribution is not apparent in the box score, as was the case with his trip to Sandy, Utah, on Wednesday to face Real Salt Lake in a 2-0 Inter Miami CF victory.
Soccer is a game of space. Although there are many tactics, formations and game plans, they all flow back to space. Defenses contain, constrict and trap while the attacking team spreads out to open, occupy and execute in spaces on the pitch. Messi has become the most decorated soccer player of all time by mastering the attacking side of that equation with his elite IQ, his agile precision and his gravitational pull on defenses.
Messi has been known throughout his career to walk. A lot.
As the Deseret News previously reported, there are many theories to why he walks so much, but I believe this walking serves a three-fold purpose: it creates unpredictability allowing him to get lost on the pitch, it allows him to analyze defenses for holes and weaknesses, and it conserves his energy for moments that may yield a higher return for his effort.
We saw this in the 50th minute Wednesday when his walking led to an opportunity where Miami should have scored. Right at the beginning of the clip below you can see Messi gets the ball in space with a one-man advantage towards goal. He has both defenders converge on him, he is able to shift around both and play a perfect pass to his wide-open teammate, who just pushes it outside of the post.
What the clip doesn’t show is that Real Salt Lake had just broken Miami’s high press, and instead of running back, Messi slowly walked while Real Salt Lake’s central midfield pushed forward to join the attack. When possession changed, Messi was already in open space and the counter attack was on.
Once Messi is on the ball, it is always quick and precise. Messi has a way of slicing apart a defense, whether it’s with shifty dribbling or the penetrating pass through the seemingly closed window. He is always three steps ahead, knowing exactly where the open space will be and how to get the ball there on time. This includes when he decides that open space is the back corner of the net.
Although Messi didn’t get any official goal contribution in Utah, the set of corner kicks that led to Rodrigo De Paul’s screamer of a goal in the 82nd minute was created by Messi making Real Salt Lake’s left back, Sam Junqua, fall on his backside with a quick, shifty and controlled cut. If it wasn’t for Noel Caliskan’s recovery forcing a corner kick, in anticipation of Messi being Messi, then there would have been some open real estate in a dangerous area of the pitch.
That need for teammates to shadow or double-team is another weapon Messi utilizes to generate opportunities. Although Messi is smaller in stature, he has a gravitational pull on the opposing team that pulls them out of their shape and opens up space — whether that is pulling an extra defender and opening up a passing window or simply drawing the eyes of those players and forcing them to be half a step late anticipating a penetrating run behind on goal.
Real Salt Lake’s head coach Pablo Mastroeni alluded to this concept in his postgame press conference when he stated, “The way Messi plays, and his interpretation of space, is the best in the world…. You always have to have at least two players on that weak side, aware of where he’s at, and that takes away from getting really good pressure on the ball.”
Messi, although you may not know it if you saw him walking down the street, is an elite athlete who maximizes his strengths and impact in every move he makes, and then executes mercilessly to win possessions, games and championships. He does it so well that you can forget he doesn’t have the physical attributes of a stereotypical superstar, but you sit back and just marvel at the genius that is Lionel Messi.
