A throwback to Xavi Hernandez’s in-depth take on Leo’s tactical awareness.
“Tactically he understands everything. It’s shameful to compare him to anyone,” Xavi Hernandez told El Pais in 2018.
“Messi dominates every aspect. Space, time, where his teammate is, where the opposition player is. Before he used to unbalance games with pure ability and strength.
“Now he dribbles you like a bastard: he lures you in. He sees that he has a marker on him and he knows that the guy is scared of him so he waits for another opponent to come and then when he has like a 3×1 he passes the ball.
“I saw this with LeBron James too. In the final between Cavaliers and Miami in 2014. LeBron isn’t an individualistic player. When he had two players on him he would pass the ball to his teammate that was now free and could shoot. Iniesta and Messi do this too.
“They lure you in until a teammate is left open. If you don’t go to press them they’ll just play. We do this work since we’re kids. Finding the space, finding the free teammate.
“Even Ter Stegen knows it. He trains for it. He plays the ball long and you say ‘he’s thrown it away’. But he hasn’t. When Bayern came to the Camp Nou they were man-marking us and left Ter Stegen along. And he would pass to Suarez and from there we’d have a 3 on 3.”
Funnily enough, LeBron spotted Messi’s resemblance with his style of play long before the former Barcelona midfielder.
“Heard Messi made the game-winning pass! That’s my type of play/er. Win, loss, draw, you make the right play to help your team be successful,” the NBA legend tweeted back in 2014 when Argentina beat Switzerland in the World Cup last-16 round.
Leo set up Angel Di Maria‘s extra-time winner to take his national team to the next round of the competition.
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