Lionel Messi, on the verge of breaking the mold at Inter Miami: the Olympic goal that the Dallas goalkeeper denied him

It is one of Lionel Messi’s last remaining obsessions. This Monday, in the friendly match against Dallas FC, La Pulga was on the verge of breaking the matrix of his individual statistics: as so many times with the Argentine national team, he tried to get the Olympic goalthe only definition that was missing from his repertoire, but Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Paes denied it twice.

He has already scored goals with his left foot, with his right foot, from a penalty, from a free kick, with his head, with his chest and even with his hand. He also made one of the Chilean kicks last year in France. He has 821 in total. But he misses the Olympic one. And he continually searches for it.

In freezing Dallas, one of those two mentioned was very clear. It happened in the 7th minute, when the local team was already winning 1-0 thanks to Jesús Ferreira’s goal. There was a corner kick from the right of the attack, ideal for Rosario’s magical left foot to hit the ball.

And so it was… Messi put his arms on his hips waiting for the referee’s order and executed his shot almost perfectly. The goalkeeper retraced his steps and, just enough, half-rejected the ball and the rebound, almost by miracle.

There may be a key fact about trying this in Dallas. According to an investigation by the Spanish newspaper El País, the climate factor influences: The curvature is best in winter, with low temperatures, low humidity and high atmospheric pressure.

His research had as its closest precedent the duel against Paraguay for the South American qualifiers. Leo came on in the 7th minute of the second half and almost reached the finish line. In a corner kick from the right corner of the attack, he followed the logic: he kicked left-footed with a curve to the far post, and the ball “clattered” against the right tube of goalkeeper Carlos Coronel. The image went around the world.

It was similar to what he felt playing for Barcelona against Real Madrid, in a classic during a pandemic. His shot almost slipped past one of the best in the world, Thibaut Courtois, who was surprised and passed two meters high by the power and curve taken by the ball driven by the Argentine.

With the t-shirt of Paris Saint-Germain They didn’t let him flourish much but he almost succeeded last February against Toulouse: in that case the resource was to kick hard with a screw on the nearest post, looking for a deflection or otherwise some damage to the other.

There is a video circulating in which you can see a collection of many of those corner kicks in which Leo played the athlete to find the Olympian. Or at least put rival goalkeepers in difficulty, who must be careful to desperately fly inside their fence and get the ball out. We’ll have to add tonight in Dallas…