If there is still any doubt that Messi did not come to MLS to play, then in the first game of the season, he made an adult man disappear.
It's a comical pass, and American football has elevated it to a sort of Dadaist art form. A defender of the Real Salt Lake team fell to the ground inexplicably, the goalkeeper scrambled and the ball fell to the feet of Messi, who got rid of a defender.
The only obstacle between Messi and the goal was the downed defender Andrew Brody, who was still writhing painfully on the edge of the box.
There was no whistle and the game continued. Instead of caring about the fallen opponent, Messi created one of the most comical disrespectful moments of his career: picking the ball past Brody and then striding over himself and shooting with his feet.
Brody later tweeted when the video went viral: "Yes, I'm just a cone that fell to the ground. ”
Even Messi's Inter Miami teammates couldn't believe what they saw. Midfielder Julian Greyl said: "I was like: 'Oh my God, he just dribbled the ball at full speed and then scored. 'If you want to say it's going to go in, it's the best goal of the season and probably the most beautiful goal I've ever seen in my life. ”
That's how the greatest player of all time brought his talent to the South Coast. The 36-year-old Messi could have skipped training and sipping yerba mate under a sun umbrella, and fans would still flock to watch him play at Inter Miami. Like LeBron James and Tom Brady late in his career, Messi is still tenaciously adding to his legend when his peers' bodies are no longer in good shape.
A few months after winning the Ballon d'Or for the eighth time, Messi continues to continue his game in interesting ways. Messi will be back in the global spotlight this summer when he will join Argentina in the Copa America, but even against the likes of Kansas City and the New England Revolution, every minute of Messi's game is a dazzling and unmissable piece of soccer fun.
For anyone who has watched Barcelona play in the last decade, Inter Miami's squad roster looks all too familiar. In front of Messi, his old partner Suarez is still scoring goals with astonishing efficiency.
Behind them, midfielder Sergio Busquets took the tempo of the game in stride. Alba can't get the assist from the left as he used to, but he is still Messi's favorite target up front. Even head coach Martino was in charge of Barcelona in the 2013-14 season.
But the similarities end there. Instead of a group of La Masia-trained elves, Inter Miami paired them with a group of young, athletically gifted rising stars from South America. As a result, this team is looser and more disjointed than any club team Messi has ever played for.
For most of his career, Messi rarely needed to be involved in defense and organisation, and he didn't get involved until the team was about to push past the halfway line. He can take a walk while attacking, like a patrolling officer, observing the movement of opposition defenders and calculating how to be in a certain position at the right time to complete an attack.
In Inter Miami's less elaborate offense, he got involved earlier than ever. Instead of receiving the ball on the flanks and then breaking through with the ball, he often directs right midfielder Greyl forward and then picks up Sergio Busquets himself and takes the ball out of the back with short balls.
At Paris Saint-Germain, Messi can send Mbappe a precise pass to the continent. In the Argentine team, Messi can feed the likes of Alvarez and Lautaro in front. In Miami, Messi will no longer complete the quarterback pass in the midfield as before, but shuttle between various lines, play fast wall collision with teammates, bypass defenders, avoid steals and fouls.
"He likes to do that, to get up to speed by going two-by-two," Gressel explained. In a sense, I was like a bodyguard, helping him half-turn and plug into the void and then push forward. ”
Once that combination kicks in, Messi's keen sense of passing is as deadly as ever. He averaged 1+ through balls every 90 minutes, and his 10 assists (12 by MLS, including the penultimate pass) led the league. Five of those came in the half of last weekend, when he shredded the New York Red Bulls like a bored house cat.
The most brilliant assist (Messi → Rojas) is shown in the picture below.
It took only 3 passes for the two players to break through the opponent's 7-man line and hit the ball into the goal near the halfway line.
This is the ultimate evolution of Messi, who is no longer a pseudo-nine, no longer a breakthrough winger, but a midfield propeller who spares no effort. Time and time again, he found a way to receive the ball in midfield, dribble through the defence and deliver a lethal pass to the left side of the box.
Currently, only five MLS players (including Toronto FC's Bernardeschi, Orlando City's Muriel, and LA Galaxy's Phuket) are pushing forward more than Messi's 19.2 rounds per 90 minutes.
Of course, this also underestimates the role of a league's top scorer. Messi has scored 10 goals in eight appearances this season, averaging 1.33 goals per 90 minutes, his best performance since the 2012-13 season. Instead of opting for long-range shots in a dense defence as Barcelona did in the later stages, he broke into the box and had an expected goal of 0.15 after each non-penalty shot.
To sum up Messi's super-fierce performance in MLS, perhaps the most useful thing is not the data listed above, but a more comprehensive goal probability model from American Soccer Analysis - goal added value. Whenever a player touches the ball, the goal added value measures the goals scored and conceded by his team before and after the touch, and credits the difference to his name, summarizing all his contributions on the pitch in the form of expected goals scored/conceded difference.
Messi has only played 1,165 minutes in the MLS, so it's a bit premature, but so far he's left the MLS's passing stars far behind. By any measure, these players are very good players – like Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry – and they have both played in Europe's top leagues, but none of them can compare to the 36-year-old Messi back then.
The greatest solo season in MLS history belongs to Carlos Vela (2019). Los Angeles FC head coach Bob Bradley told Vela to want him to be "as good as Messi", and the winger seems to be doing just that. He set the league's record for goals scored in a single season (34) and involved goals (49).
His non-penalty expected goals + assists of 1.06 per 90 minutes, which is 0.37 more goals per 90 minutes than the average of players in the same position, is the best statistic since the relevant statistics are available.
Pick any stat and Carlos Vela's performance in 2019 is the gold standard. We were already very close to seeing Messi in MLS before Messi himself appeared.
1/3 of the season has passed, and Messi is expected to break all the above records. It was a total destruction, an offensive journey. He's not here to retire, he's left the entire MLS behind.
Inter Miami, made up of Barcelona legends, may not be the greatest team in MLS history – they are too inconsistent in attack and porous at the back – but now they sit at the top of the table and every time Messi takes to the pitch, there is a good show to play up.
Maybe that's the best measure of a great player – even if he's retiring, you can't take your eyes off him.