Lionel Messi’s latest MLS victims were supposed to be legitimate rivals, perhaps even title contenders. They came from Orlando on Saturday; they strutted into Inter Miami’s Chase Stadium to make a statement. But over two embarrassing hours, they lapsed, again and again, then succumbed to subtle genius.
By the time Messi camped under a floating ball in the 57th minute, they’d already parted and capitulated. They’d let Luis Suarez hobble to a near-hat trick. They watched, lazily, as Jordi Alba scampered through them. Orlando City defender Robin Jansson raced back to rescue them; he cleared Alba’s clever dink onto the crossbar. And it was right about then that four hapless, purple-clad men realized they’d committed soccer’s cardinal sin: they’d left Messi alone.
So they scrambled, desperately, to stop the GOAT from scoring. César Araújo leapt across the goal mouth. Jansson, tangled in the net, nearly ripped the entire goal off its moorings. Rodrigo Schlegel grabbed Messi’s shirt. Pedro Gallese flashed his hands in the air — to block a shot that never came.
Messi, instead, let the ball trickle down his chest, and into the goal, turning four Orlando players into fools on a poster.
It was brilliant. It was also quite easy.
Messi’s two goals in Saturday’s 5-0 rout were the umpteenth examples of his greatness, and the latest evidence that MLS is struggling to contain it.
So they became another data point in the polarizing debate over whether Messi’s instant dominance in Miami says more about him or his inferior opponents.
One side argues that Messi does this everywhere — at the World Cup, in Spain’s La Liga and beyond. The other side argues that he is exposing MLS as a second-rate league whose off-field growth has camouflaged on-field quality that still lags.
The truth, as always, is probably somewhere in between the two extremes.
The numbers
Messi’s Miami numbers tell one relevant-but-incomplete story. In 11 games last summer prior to his all-but-season-ending injury — 10 of them against MLS teams — he averaged 1.61 non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 minutes. That would have been the second-best goal creation rate of his glittering career, trailing only his 2012-13 La Liga campaign at Barcelona.
It would have eclipsed his rate in several Ballon d’Or seasons, and perhaps supported the latter argument: That his exploits say plenty…