A nutmeg can be devastating for us mere mortals, so spare a thought for Lionel Messi after standing by while Adrien Rabiot ended him in a split second.
Lionel Messi doesn’t get nutmegged. He’s the megger, not the meggee. Or he was.
On February 13, the fabric of the world was hanging by a thread amid *gestures broadly at everything that’s happened for the last 14 months or so* this.
February 14 might be the day when it finally fell apart.
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In case you hadn’t heard, Barcelona were beaten 4-0 by Paris Saint-Germain. Four Nil. Even Edinson Cavani scored.
Sure, the visitors had some players missing, but this was an authentic Barcelona team. The front three of Messi, Neymar and Suárez were all there, as were Iniesta, Busquets and Piqué.
Four-goal defeats don’t happen to Barcelona, and nutmegs don’t happen to Lionel Messi. Except they do. Both of them.
We’re not allowing Messi the luxury of accepting he escapes a full megs by lifting up his leg as the ball sails through. That’s cancelled out – and then some – by the fact that Rabiot isn’t even facing the same way as him.
If Adrien Rabiot was to retire from football tomorrow at the age of 21, he would do so at the pinnacle of the game.
Perhaps others have nutmegged Messi in the past. We doubt it, though. Certainly not like this. And certainly not on this stage, with the eyes of the world on him.
If you look closely you can actually pinpoint the exact moment his heart breaks in two.
https://twitter.com/MagnifiqueAM/status/831616614097358848
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to set this article to self-destruct the minute Messi completes his hat-trick as Barcelona win 5-0 in the second leg.
