I don’t know. What if he had missed it? 3-0 is a more assuring scoreline than 2-0. As the captain and first PK-taker I assume Messi did what he thought was right at that moment and took the responsibility and pressure of getting that important 3-0 off of Ansu’s shoulders.
Messi hasn’t a great success rate for penalties as I recall .. He’s missed 22 out of the last 90 taken .. Matt Le Tiss only missed one in his whole career !
Be that as it may, that’s irrelevant to the point I made. If Fati missed and Villarreal somehow managed to come back, Messi would have been criticized for not taking it himself. If Messi missed, and Villarreal would have managed to come back he would have gotten stick too. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. But as a good captain does, he took responsibility. Plus, there’s a lot of time left for Ansu to get a hatty. The collective before the individual.
Fati-Messi connectiom again there. Imagine Messi had finished that... My word. Who needs brazilians when you have Ansuuuuu.
Are you not seeing how well we are playing, or the scoreline for that matter? Messi is playing great and so is everyone else. It’s actually nice that it’s not all balls to Messi and solely relying on him. That was one of our main problems.
What a pass from Frenkie to Fati there. Should have done better there Ansu. Playing great football atm.
We're playing well, but let's also recognize this is one of the worst Villareal performances in a long time.
Damn, Villarreal’s keeper making some great saves. Robbing Coutinho then Messi of a goal, both of whom deserve a goal.
Has this happened today? Might have missed it as I’m doing two things at once. Otherwise he’s been pretty good today. Edit: As I say that he gave it away. Admittedly I have a delayed stream.
Nah, you’re seeing what you want to see. Messi was involved throughout the whole game as he always is. If we keep playing like we did in the first half than this is the formation we should stick to for the time being.