Messi as Xavi Hernandez

The idea of Messi as a Xavi(no6) came to mind when I first saw Ronaldinho. My initial thought was " As a human anyone could imitate the ability of dribbling, juggling and other kinds of tricks, however hoodwinking a player or beat anyone in 1v1 situations or 3/4v1 situations, one has to use their mind sagely."

And then I found the quote of Andrea Pirlo “Football is played with the head. Your legs are just the tools.”  And I thought what a genius I am (like Johan Cruyff, Arrigo Sacchi). Apart from the sarcasm, this article is a tribute to one of the best player in the world for winning his first major trophy with his national team after so many ups and downs.

Whenever you’ve seen  Messi’s career, you recognize he’s always could fire outrageous passes from deep if the game demands. It puts a question in one's mind,  that is he the greatest attacker of modern time or might one day become a great midfield distributor. “If he plays as a No. 9, No. 8, or No. 6, he's the best No. 9, No. 8, or No. 6 in the world. He can understand the perfect pass from 40 yards; he can put the ball wherever he wants,” Messi’s former coach Luis Enrique said. Dome Torrent, who helped mastermind Messi’s false nine phase, told the Argentine newspaper Olé: “Often, he drops deep to receive the ball. In a few years, he could play like Xavi if he wanted to. He doesn't lose the ball, he gives assists, he has taken care of his body throughout his career. If he plays in a deeper position when he logically starts losing pace, he could play as a central midfielder or wherever he wants to and he would do well."

 For Argentina,  that’s a different story. For most of his career, his national team has been pathologically dependent on Messi in every phase of possession, and it’s gotten worse since the rest of his golden generation started to decline around the time of the 2018 World Cup. I mean, people talk about Messidependencia at Barça, but the Albiceleste take it to a whole ‘another level. Check out Messi’s share of the creative load for club and country, per FBref:

Argentina (Copa América 2021)

Progressive passes

17.7%

26.2%

Final third entries

13.6%

18.1%

Expected assists

18.8%

25.0%

In this tournament, though, it kind of has, thanks to recent reinforcements. At the World Cup, Argentina had the third-oldest squad after Iceland and Costa Rica, with a minutes-weighted age of 29.6. In 2021, key vets like Ángel Di María and Sergio Agüero are still around, but now they rotate with guys in their prime like Rodrigo De Paul, Lautaro Martinez, and Giovani Lo Celso. Those fresh legs have helped. This Argentina isn’t on top of the world, but they tied Brazil for most points in the group stage and seem to be coping pretty well with all their high-end talent ageing out.

Messi’s version of the shotgun offence involves collecting the ball somewhere around the centre circle in transition. As the right-winger in Argentina’s 4-3-3 or the central attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, Messi is one of the two forwards who stay on the front line when his team drops into a defensive block. This doesn’t happen all that much, to be honest, because Copa América games consist mostly of transitions, fouls to stop the transitions, set pieces resulting from the fouls, and fights that break out during the set pieces. But whenever Argentina does go low, Messi stays high, and when they win the ball they’re ready to run in transition again.

Dropping gives Messi space, Argentina's runners give him options.

Part of the reason Messi’s so good for this style, besides the fact that he’s, you know, Lionel Messi, is that he moves the wrong way. While the defence is scrambling backwards, he doesn’t sprint forward to lead the line like forwards typically do on the counter. He drops into space to receive. There hasn’t been a whole lot of counter-pressing following turnovers at this tournament, so Messi will often get the ball five or ten yards from the nearest defender, in more space than he’s ever allowed in Barcelona games. That’s the shotgun part. But as soon as he starts dribbling forward, somebody’s got to stop retreating and step to him, because, again, this is Messi we're talking about. Just by gathering the ball when and where he does and possessing neutron-star levels of gravity, he pulls the opponent’s lines apart and creates spaces in front of him.

A quarterback is nothing without receivers, and Messi’s shotgun plays wouldn’t work if his teammates didn’t hustle off the ball. That’s why Argentina’s youth movement has been important. Instead of squaring up against a set defence with limited forward passing options, Messi is catching the defence before it gets organized, with three or four runners to choose from. A larger share of his attempts in this Copa América has resulted in progressive passes outside the penalty area than at the World Cup or in any Barcelona season. In plain English: he’s passing the ball toward goal faster than ever.

Some of Messi's shotgun passing at the Copa América.

Messi hasn’t been the most dangerous player around the box at the Copa América. That’s been his one-time protégé Neymar, who’s created nearly twice as many non-penalty expected goals and expected assists.  But if you look one pass further back in the chain, Messi’s 12 shot-creating actions from open play are level with Neymar, and his deep-lying creativity is the reason Argentina’s 23-year-old striker Lautaro Martínez is crushing all comers in xG. Messi takes the shotgun snap and tosses the Hail Mary; Martínez walks it into the end zone. In the final, When Argentina had the ball position in counter-attacking transition, Messi scanned the whole field before receiving the ball, then checking out the field after every touch,   finding the best player for passing and utilising the perfect space to attack by through ball or direct / dribbling run.

I’m not sure we’ll ever see shotgun Messi as a regular thing in club play. Defences are too organized, counter presses are too aggressive, and Barcelona — assuming that’s where he still plays come August — usually prefers slow, high possession to rolling the dice in transition. Then again, Messi’s through-ball attempts have been trending upward over the course of his career as he's slowed down and his passing has improved. Getting Ansu Fati back from injury and Memphis Depay from Lyon this season will give him the runners he was so sorely lacking last year. If Ronald Koeman can find a structure to cover for his lack of defence, maybe a situational deep-lying playmaker role could suit Messi, who doesn’t get into the box nearly as much these days anyway.

I have written this prior to his Psg move.

Barca's neverending soap opera halted last week, and now I have to expand, how Psg could exploit his ability of scanning.  In the last game week, Psg created a left-sided overload in doing so they gave Hakimi the space to attack and tried to utilize Icardi. 

With this system, they could also use Messi as a false no9 and it would help their initial ball control. They could also use him as Argentina did in the Copa America and with the player like Mbappe and Neymar in front, Psg could break anyone easily. But this thing won’t happen, a player like Leo with his legacy, wouldn’t justify also.