Lionel Messi was at his best in the early stages of Inter Miami CF’s MLS opener, even if the opposing defenders weren’t.
In the final minutes of the first half of Miami’s 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Messi controlled the ball outside the goal box and dribbled into the body of a fallen defender. exceeded.
Messi won the ball in the 44th minute, deftly evaded a Salt Lake defender, moved to his left, and flicked the ball over the body of Andrew Brodie.
The Argentine superstar ran around Brodie, corralled the ball and fired a shot, which ended up being blocked.
Social media was buzzing about Messi’s ball skills.
“Brother…Messi literally did a soccer version of an AI stepping over an injured RSL player.” wrote one X userreferring to Allen Iverson’s infamous step over Tyronn Lue in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
“Messi really dribbled the injured player with the precision of a surgeon. He’s such a fake guy.” I wrote something else.
One user even said that Messi was essentially playing a video game.
“Messi chipped the ball over the injured Andrew Brodie and kept circling him like he was just a cone in training. You’re playing FIFA in real life. Yo.” they wrote.
It was an eventful match for Messi. Messi assisted on the first goal of the game by playing a through ball between two Salt Lake defenders and deftly hitting Robert Taylor, who smashed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Messi also made a long run from midfield and passed to new teammate Luis Suarez, allowing Diego Gomez to score Miami’s second goal in the 83rd minute.
