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It is impossible to know if this Messi has already recorded any of these defining moments. Maybe that will prove, over time, to have been that chip against Real Betis a few weeks ago, the ball floating for an age before making a semicircle over the line. This is one of the distinctive features of Messi's greatness that is so serene, so peaceful. His game rarely arouses anger: Roger Federer's pitiless grace than the explosive force of Rafael Nadal. He caresses his passes and his blows, a control ever more popular than power.
The other is that he does not abuse his abilities: he rarely surrenders to impossible shots at a distance, seeking headlines, limelights and applause. His software is now sophisticated enough that he can apparently calculate the odds of a given decision: he only shoots when that is the right decision.
His first goal here on Tuesday was a typical example. He slammed Fred on the edge of United's surface – not because it inspired the biggest breath of the crowd, nor because it showed his genius, but because it was the simplest way up to the day. instead, just outside the penalty area, where he could whip the ball. ball around David De Gea. (His second goal does not warrant such scrutiny – a soft shot that De Gea, unusually, fumbled: even the biggest are allowed to be lucky.)
Perhaps this goal will prove to be the high watermark of this version of Messi; maybe he is still coming. It produces a brilliance with such a surprising frequency that with hindsight – and a considerable amount of it too – a certainty is possible.
An example: if Messi had been able to finish a race at the end of the first period, which had earned him three United midfielders, referee Felix Brych, and that Phil Jones was crooked and tortured, his first goal would have been seemed rather ordinary, by its standards; Likewise, he had managed to convert a kick into impromptu scissors in the second.
The question now is to know where this genius can lead Barcelona. An eighth Spanish title in eleven years is already almost achieved – a series of unprecedented national successes in the history of the club – but a first appearance in the semifinals of the Champions League since 2015 is undoubtedly of greater importance.
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