Masnou: Only Messi's genius beat that of Jorge Sampaoli
The Sevilla coach and his side were crushing Barcelona until Messi intervened and changed the game entirely
It was the closest thing to total football, the closest thing to what Pep Guardiola invented in his day at FC Barcelona. Sevilla offered a recital of play in the first half thanks to the little genius they have on the sideline, Jorge Sampaoli. Barcelona looked in the mirror and found his Sevilla.
The Andalusian side had many of the virtues that made Barcelona great in their day. Attacking without brakes, four forwards and eight chances in the first 30 minutes, a frenetic intensity causing many losses of the ball by their opponents, great recuperation in the attacking phase, interchanging positions continuously, control, and possession of the ball. Sevilla were a spectacle and the Sanchez Pizjuan celebrated it.
Incapable of matching it, Barcelona didn’t know what to do or how to respond, without a second’s pause for reflexion or solutions from the bench. They were putty in Sevilla’s hands, until the other little genius appeared. Leo Messi. Everything changed and he showed there is nobody better than him in the football world. It’s something Sampaoli knew before the game. “I need a plan for Barcelona and a plan for Messi,” he said. The plan against Barcelona worked. The plan against Messi? No. Why? Because there is none.
In the middle of crisis, the Argentine invented a touch from outside the area that was capable of beating a group of giants like N’Zonzi, Rami and Rico. And from there Barcelona looked in the mirror again and stopped seeing Sevilla, but Messi.
It was a touch that killed Sevilla. They did not know how to recover their style. They players haven’t played for Sampaoli for that long. The coach was desperate on the touchline and without options to fix it. And Messi, meanwhile, grew greater still in the second half as Barcelona took the ball, their style, their form of play. The Argentine forward set up Suarez for a goal, a strike who had gone invisible for five games. It’s what Messi has. Talent not only to win games but to save his friends.
