OK, so this was only Trinidad, a side so out of their league that you had to
laugh when, rather than shaking hands in the line, one of their players,
Ataullah Guerra, instead bowed extravagantly to the doubtless embarrassed
Messi.
Yet you could soon remember why he remains worth a bit of genuflection as,
within six minutes, Messi had produced a pirouette followed by an eel-like
slide and slither between four befuddled Trinidad midfielders and a
potential goal-creating assist. Ole!
What was most instantly striking was his confidence, energy and determination
to put on a show. This was the sort of game, just a week and a half from
what could be a defining tournament for Messi, when he could have been
forgiven for holding back a touch on a potentially treacherous, greasy
surface and against defenders whose only hope of halting him was to chop him
down.
Each time he tumbled, coach Alejandro Sabella must have winced. Martín
Demichelis picking up an ankle knock was one thing but losing a genius quite
another. Yet Messi just kept taking the knocks, forging forward.
The only thing missing was the finishing touch. Just before half-time, his
sublime flicked pass found Angel Di Maria in the clear and instead of
slipping the ball from a narrower angle into an empty net, the Real Madrid
man seemed intent in ensuring his Rosario buddy’s return was marked with a
goal. It is what everyone here wanted.
So when he passed inside, it seemed Messi had the simplest tap in only for
60,000 to be left gasping at how the best player on the planet could somehow
blow it from two yards. It was only evident on later inspection of the
replays that Trinidad defender Yohance Marshall had actually done just
enough to nick the ball off his twinkletoes.
Early in the second half, Messi hit the post with an exquisite curled free
kick but actually seemed more thrilled to have missed as his Barcelona chum
Javier Mascherano netted the rebound to go with the other goals from Rodrigo
Palacio and Maxi Rodriguez.
Messi appeared to be enjoying all this, the captaincy and the World Cup
pressure seemingly enlivening him. It is his show now, given licence by
Sabella to do as he pleases; dropping deep and playmaking one minute,
foraging as a centre forward the next, then popping up to maraud on the
right wing.
Aided by a glittering cast list – Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain may have
been given a rest to protect minor niggles but Palacio and Ezequiel Lavezzi
were hardly shabby replacements – Messi does not have to worry about taking
on the whole load himself with this having the look of a team of all the
talents.
Antonio Rattin, who imploded spectacularly at Wembley in 1966 and got sent off
in the heat of battle against England, knows all about the pressures that go
with the Argentina captaincy but this, he felt, was further evidence that
Messi can thrive on those responsibilities.
“Messi is 26 now, he’s a man not a boy any more. If you’re young, maybe you
don’t have enough personality to a manage a team but I think he’s showing
the capability of being a fine leader,” Rattin told Telegraph Sport.
“He’s quieter than me, that’s for sure,” laughed the man who famously argued
for eight minutes with the referee before trudging off the field that
infamous day. “You’re not going to see Messi shout or make gestures but he
can lead by example, by the inspirational way he plays on the pitch.
“It’s been 28 years since we last won the World Cup. Too long. We had Maradona
back then in 1986, who was best in the world, and now we’ve got Messi, also
the best in the world, who looks fully recovered from his injuries and who
has good support from players like Di Maria, Aguero, Higuain. Maybe this
time, eh?”