The Messi 1-2

In recent seasons Lionel Messi has emerged as one of (if not the) greatest players on the planet. He has incredible skill even at the incredible speeds he reaches, perhaps only rivaled, if at all, by Ronaldo.

With the departure of Ronaldinho and Deco from Barca, Messi has also had to bare the burden of instigator for the Catalan side.

This post is to highlight what I believe to be his signature move. It might be something you’ve never noticed, but believe me, after you’ve read this article, you will see Messi perform this routine several times a game. It’s like when you buy a new car – you start to see that car everywhere, when you’d never seen it before. (It’s known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon)

The signature move is essentially a 1-2, but in this specific case that fundamental football technique is a fine-tuned ‘play’, rehearsed and performed with the regularity of a West End actor.

Messi (10) recieves the ball on the right touchline and draws the opposition left back out to the wing. Once level with the 18 yard line, Messi cuts in at a right angle, at pace. He pushes the ball into his striker and instantly darts inside his tracker. The ball is played first time by the attacker into Messi’s path and he recieves it in a position where he can choose between blasting at goal, slotting in the far corner, curling around the keeper or cutting back for a team mate.

This is a simple move on the face of it, but the devil is in the details.

Messi is the perfect player to execute this play. He is a left footed right-winger. This means that when he cuts inside the left back and dribbles towards the corner of the box his body is between the ball and the defender. It also means he can push the ball into the feet of his attacker and accelerate into space without breaking stride (a right footed pass here would mean a very slight hesitation before the following run). The position he ends up in is also favourable for a left-footer.

What I love about this attacking play is its simplicity. It is very easy to coach, partly because it is player specific. If a team includes a pacey left-footed right winger, or right-footed left winger, then that player is the only one who really needs to learn the play. The rest of the team only need to expect it and be aware to make the one touch pass into the space. (It is very important that it is one-touch otherwise the winger is going to be offside.)

The other beauty of this play is that it can be very easily utilised. The starting position of Messi in the above diagram is a position wingers recieve the ball in several times every game. (if they recieve the ball 10 yards back from there, they should just edge into position before accelerating away from their defender.) It is also very difficult to defend, because of the run the winger makes, they will inevitably end up goalside of their defender, which means the only way to defend it is for the centre back to drop off. This requires good anticipation from the defender and I have only seen one team performance where this play has successfully being shut down all game.

That was in the Manchester United vs Barcelona game in the 2007/08 season, and the defender who demonstrated the vision to block this move was Rio Ferdinand. He made the run shown in the diagram below which shut off Messi every time. This defensive action does require good cover from the rest of the defense. The full back who lost Messi in the first place should be making a recovery run towards the penalty spot to block any cut back should the winger still beat the centre back to the ball.

I hope to find or record a good example of this soon, and will post a video of this move in action as soon as I can.

Tags: 1-2, Barca, Ferdinand, Messi, Rio, Winger