Deportivo la Coruna 1-3 Barcelona: The Last Pass

by Bob Lalasz on December 6, 2009

in Barca, Football

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Has Leo Messi plateaued? Everyone is thinking and almost writing that, while also protesting that it's almost churlish to think and write that, as they pull up short and blame Maradona's mind games. Messi's second in La Liga in goals scored — despite Maradona, despite exhaustion…isn't that everything? He scored twice yesterday and brilliantly dummied a pass that went to Ibrahimovic for the third. Case closed.

But he's no longer the king of the team, and his play speaks of insecurity over that (relative) fall. When he doesn't pass — which is even more frequent than last year, when he flagrantly ignored Samuel Eto'o so many times it looked like one of those unspeaking marriages where the parties use a son (probably Bojan) as a communication go-between for 30 years; when he dribbles into six defenders like a crazy gyroscope, wobbling through hits until someone finally steps in and steals his lunch…he looks no longer artistic but desperate, the boy at the adult party who doesn't understand why playing the same magic trick over and over isn't still charming everyone. When he does pass, it can be brilliant, and it can also be a buffoonish turnover, especially in midfield. The Barca fan keeps waiting for everything to click back into place, for the stars to rotate back half an inch and his crazy runs to once again yield their impossible and yet inevitable magic. Time passes for everyone — but even a 21-year-old Messi? Still, see the first goal yesterday in the video above — a thing of impossible, whirling, deadly beauty…

But it's Ibrahimovic's team now — yes, because of the El Clasico goal, but also because the game is so clearly on his boot when he has the ball. As Brian Phillips has pointed out, he stops better than anyone in the game. He stops, considers, calculates…then passes — almost always passes, and it is always the most creative, the most expressive, and the best possible pass, the mathematician an artist in the way that he solves the proof, the Way suddenly opening itself with extreme simplicity, his previous flamboyance at Inter now elegant, unadorned necessity. Our mouths agape. Who wouldn't be insecure around this? (Thierry Henry is practically invisible.) When Ibra did score yesterday, he smiled sheepishly, almost embarrassed at the largesse. He looks happy. Which, should it continue, means Barca always has a chance.

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Tagged as: Barca, Barca blog, Barcelona, Brian Phillips, Deportivo la Coruna blog, FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona blog, Lionel Messi, soccer, soccer blog, The Run of Play, Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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