Messi
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Reuters
The Argentine star, Lionel Messi, the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain striker, and the current American Inter Miami, raises the astonishment of the followers; For “walking around” during matches.
Fans saw this regularly during his 17-year spell at Barcelona, particularly towards the end of his spell at the Camp Nou.
Then he seemed to walk more frequently during the two seasons he played for PSG.
Messi also appeared to wander, almost listlessly at times, with Argentina through many international matches over the years, and even in the 2022 World Cup, a tournament in which he led his country to glory in Qatar.
Messi causes fans to be surprised because of the time he spends walking during matches.
According to a statistic by BBC Sport, Messi has appeared in the top ten on three occasions when it comes to players who have covered the most distance while walking.
Former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand said at the time about how much time Messi walks during World Cup group stage matches: “He almost pretends he’s not interested and then comes back to life. What he can do is open the game from anywhere on the pitch, and that’s It is the difference between him and the others.”
And Messi moved this summer to the American League from the gate of Inter Miami.
In his first eight appearances for the MLS side, Messi scored 10 goals and provided another three assists, helping the club win its first ever trophy, by winning the League Cup.
Messi scored a stunning goal in the League Cup final against Nashville, but videos filmed from the stands went viral showing Messi wandering for more than a minute.
Apparently, Messi sensed that something was about to happen and rushed towards the goal and asked for the ball, then made some great touches before slotting the ball into the net.
Pep Guardiola, who worked 4 seasons with Messi at Barcelona, explains why the Argentine player walks during matches.
Commenting while watching a video of Messi as part of the “This is Football” series on Amazon Prime Video, the Spanish coach said: “He’s watching now, he’s walking, he’s walking…that’s what I like best, he’s not out of the game, he’s Engaged in it, he’s nodding his head, right, left, left, right, he knows exactly what’s going to happen, but his head is always like that, he’s always moving.”
He added: “He doesn’t run, but he always watches what happens, he smells the weaknesses in the defensive line, after five or ten minutes, he has the map in his eyes, in his mind to know exactly where the space is.”
“It’s like being in the woods and I have to survive, and he knows if I move there, I’ll have more space to attack,” Pep continued.
Speaking during the 2018 World Cup, football pundit Ken Earley told the Daily Mail: “Messi has figured out how to win games by moving less than anyone else.”
While Luke Bourne, a data scientist in Barcelona, said during a sports analytics conference: “Can we say that Messi gets a lot of his space by not running during the game? Yes, that is exactly what our research shows.”
2023-08-28 15:49:32
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