sport news Lionel Messi's eye-of-the-needle pass against Holland was him making the ... trends now
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There it was, the very essence of what it is all about. The previous 35 minutes had been laborious — a polite way of saying dull — but then Lionel Messi took possession and started to scuttle.
He was moving across the pitch from right to left, his pace quickening as the group of pursuers in orange began to panic. Without breaking stride, Messi befuddled everyone and rolled a through ball in the opposite direction, presenting Nahuel Molina with a chance he dared not miss.
Molina did what was expected, poking his finish into the corner of the Netherlands net. Celebrations that followed were wild, but it felt as if it was to acknowledge the genius of the creator rather than the finisher’s final execution.
Lionel Messi's through ball set up Nahuel Molina (right) for Argentina's opening goal
It was a remarkable pass and he then went on to score from the penalty spot in the second half
We invest our emotions in sport because we want those flashes that make you leap from your seat, grab the person next to you and holler: ‘Look! Look!’ You know quite well they have seen what you have seen but, in the giddiness of it all, you cannot help it.
Think Tiger Woods and the chip that rolled in slow motion into Augusta’s 16th hole in 2005, Ben Stokes and the switch-hit at Headingley in 2019 or Usain Bolt engaging the after-burners on his way to 100 metres gold at the 2012 Olympics.
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