Lionel Messi, the boy who never stops playing and a show not to be forgotten against Estonia

“Boy, stop fucking with the ball”says one of the lines of the most popular songs of the great Joan Manuel Serrat. But Lionel Messi ignores him and No stop fucking nor in a friendly match against Estonia. The 10, who had already been the figure with Italy, not only asked to be in Pamplona from the beginning, but also played to the maximum and gave himself a tremendous banquet of goals: He scored the five of the national team, something that no one had achieved 80 years ago with the shirt of his country!

The captain says he is always present and gave an impressive show to those who were at the El Sadar stadium. Of course, the very low level of the opponent (a team that is 110 in the FIFA rankings) is not a measure, but Lionel lives by surpassing himself and increasing his numbers in the national team: he has 86 shouts in 162 presentations. It is the first time he has made five with the national team.

The national team has never been in serious danger, but it took longer than necessary to impose the real difference in the hierarchies on the pitch. And this has some reasons. The alternative formation chosen by Scaloni presented the logical inaccuracies of a team that did not know each other on the pitch for most of the first half. So it took some time to find a way to break the nine-man blockade of Estonia.

Yes, before 10 minutes, Argentina were already winning 1-0 due to a penalty (goalkeeper Matvei Igonen faced Germán Pezzella) by Messi. It’s true. However, this did not help with the creation of spaces on the Osasuna pitch. The Estonian team, far from going out to find a draw, closed further back. From the initial 5-3-2 he went straight to 5-4-1, knocking out Sergei Zenjov, who had started as a forward alongside Erik Sorga, as a right midfielder.

Scaloni tried to try some variations in this duel. On the 10th he moved as a center forward, between Julián Alvarez and Joaquín Correa. Obviously Rosario did not remain static in the area, but, as always, he went down to set up the game and to associate. It is no coincidence that the best situation before the second was generated by a block made by Leo with De Paul, the only owner present from midfield forward. The one from Atlético de Madrid already knows him and knows when to find him the best in the world.

Estonia, without attacking, almost made a surprise. She had two situations to score. In one, Lisandro Martínez failed to cut a through pass and Franco Armani showed fast legs go out and Zenjov jam. And in the other Nahuel Molina, the other Wembley owner who repeated in Spain, misses his head from behind, even if he quickly recovers Mattias Kait.

Subsequently, the blues did not pass almost half of the field. And Argentina could also make some inaccuracies with ball possession without risking losing it as they had plenty of time to correct any short or poorly executed pass on the fly.

The national team armed itself with patience and from there it did what it had to, hand in hand with a Lionel Messi, more Messi than ever dressed in blue and white. Leo hit the second spot after a great triangulation and an assist from Papu Gómez. And yes, the process was something else.

Always with Lionel as the spearhead, Argentina pushed further an Estonia that had already lost order. And the gaps appeared between the disorientation of the rival defenders and the permanent mobility of the Argentines, who once again felt local for the support provided in the stands.

Another three-point pair opts in the third two minutes of the second: Alvarez opens for Molina, who throws the cross for Messi to make his hat-trick against the weak resistance of the Estonians, surrenders to the primacy of La Pulga. From that moment on it was an albiceleste tsunami. Julián Alvarez missed two head to head. De Paul looks for a cross shot that goes just under the post. And Messi – always Lionel Andres – kept insisting that it didn’t matter that he was a friendly, it didn’t matter that he could take home another ball.

And he took four. Unstoppable, the captain has no mercy and picks up a ball that was abandoned by the Estonian players who called it a non-existent infraction. Messi hooked, passed the goalkeeper and a defender and defined.

And he took five. After a series of rebounds, the 10 only have to send him through the door. Messi football show in its purest form to close this European tour by holding on more than ever to the Qatar dream.

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