There are few things Lionel Messi can’t do on a football pitch. Every week is a demonstration, a theatre dedicated to the sublime and the ridiculous, and every touch of his is unique.
Barcelona might have drawn 1-1 against Atletico Madrid this weekend but it was Messi who rescued his team once again, setting up substitute Ousmane Dembele to slot it past Jan Oblak.
Messi might not have left his stamp on the game, but he did find time for the tricks and flicks, and one in particular that Filipe Luis would not have enjoyed. The 32-year-old is an accomplished left-back, part of the Brazil team that played at the World Cup in Russia, yet he could do very little when the Argentine decided to bamboozle him.
Receiving the ball via a cushioned header, both players challenged for the ball as it comes downwards. With his back to Luis, Messi, instead of trapping the ball, let it slide onto the side of his left foot, gently manoeuvring it backwards and in between Luis’s legs as the Argentine turns his man.
In the end, Luis could only reach out and grab Messi’s shirt as the Barcelona talisman sped away from him. Genius. Sheer, unending genius.
Watch the video below: