This is Messi at the pinnacle of technical prowess. Near flawless first touch, PERFECT close control, and crazy shooting accuracy. He had ups and downs throughout the season, and this stats represent the high point during the turn of the year when he had a hot scoring streak and that magnificent Copa America run, when he showed amazing level and finally got his hand on the major international trophy that he's longed for so long.
His physicality is on a clear decline, yet somehow he can compensate for it with sharpness of mind and quick thinking off the ball. The vision and game IQ is still imminent, but he can't show it as frequently as before. It may be due to physical decline. This is why he struggles a bit to open up the game versus big teams, and add to the fact that unluckiness took part in this case. His body just seems to have lost a bit of aggression, meaning that he would get much less chance of getting into dangerous positions to hurt the opponent. This is also reducing his output, because he is now at a point where he relies heavily on moments rather than getting or creating dangers constantly. But boy does he DELIVER in some moments. This season you will see some of the best finishing of all time, like bottom corner or top corner placement that is amazingly accurate, the kind of shots that you won't see any player could do, at least at this level of consistency. I honestly can't think of a better finisher except Ronaldo Nazario in his Real Madrid days. It could also be argued that Messi has actually had this clinical shooting quality all along, yet this season in a highly dysfunctional Barca team plagued with injuries, he was FORCED to show this quality. The set up of his team really forces him to play at the absolute limit of his technical abilities, giving the audience some amazing moments yet clearly wasn't consistent enough to bring them the La Liga or UEFA Champions League trophy.
Despite only winning the Copa del Rey, he still did some amazing feats in this period. The first one is of course, winning the Copa America with Argentina, by carrying the team and showing some great performances. The second one is winning the Pichichi Trophy for the amazing 8th time, beating Karim Benzema by 7 goals in a team that lacks creative threat, and just missed out of scoring another 40+ goals in all competitions. I would describe this period as a period full of crisis for Messi. He was like a superhero in crisis, yet those difficult circumstances pushed him to perform on the pitch, and in result gave us some of the best moments of his career. What a way to close your chapter as a Barcelona player.
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