Messi splitting the atoms of his game

Lionel Messi looked down, a grin widening into a grimace. One wonders whether there was even a smirk after the miss. Nowhere close to what could be termed a good penalty, he wore the look of a man who knew he was overthinking.

A terrific opportunity missed might have set alarm bells ringing in the Argentine camp, but Messi, far from desolate, was already coming to terms with what he needed to do. There is a freeness there now, not the frustration born of years of failures with Argentina.

Messi entered the last World Cup with Argentina quickly tilting into chaos after an opening defeat against Saudi Arabia. The tournament would continue in that bizarre chaos for the Argentines, only ending with Gonzalo Montiel winning the shootout against France by scoring the decisive penalty. Football’s debt to Messi had been paid.

It appears, however, that Messi’s debt to football and Argentina is not yet settled. Years of success with Barcelona were often used as criticism for his failures with Argentina. Messi is, paradoxically, in his last dance, turning that narrative around.

The 2022 edition did more for Messi than simply let him shake hands with paradise. It was as if a burden had been lifted. In 2022, Argentina’s motivation was to see the trophy in his hands. In 2026, he is the spark urging them to go beyond what they achieved before.

If anything had been held back by fear and trepidation amid the tense matches of 2022, he is dispelling those inhibitions with every touch he takes at this World Cup.

Records continue to tumble at his feet but, for Messi, there is no motivation to be found in words, numbers or even accolades. As he turns 39 on Wednesday, the ball remains the end for Messi, only now he is more decisive. Yet there are more paradoxes to this 2026 version of Messi.

Unburdened by the triumph of 2022, he is doing everything he can, often slipping into a time capsule to do what he used to do. He is the playmaker scoring the most goals at this World Cup. When ideally he would be the one finding the passes, he is instead finding himself at the end of moves he himself has started.

When Argentina needed respite from Austria’s pressing, he was the get-out-of-jail card. With Austria effectively using the flanks as an extra man, Messi instead pulled them towards the centre, a force of gravity who set attacks in motion while space appeared everywhere else for others to exploit.

In the World Cup opener against Algeria, he was the orchestrator. Hand gestures directing where a pass needed to go, dropping deep to become the extra man against the press: a true No. 10. Against Austria, he was reinventing the false nine, becoming the tipping point from which attacks gained momentum. Two sides of the same paradoxical coin.

After missing that penalty, he got another chance in the 19th minute. Unhurried, he skipped past a defender to find himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He waited for the keeper to go to ground before a David Alaba challenge from behind saved Austria’s blushes. It was as if cherishing the moment took away the finish.

Being unburdened, however, does not mean a lack of care, and the missed chances ignited the beast within.

For any opponent, Messi is the focal point of the defensive architecture. Yet when he arrived just outside the box in the 38th minute, having channelled the attack towards the left wing, no one picked up his run from deep. A deadly left foot passed the ball into the net for Argentina’s first. Visible, the centre of attention, and then vanishing in plain sight. Another duality.

He is setting off on runs that belie his age. The lasting image of the game comes when he is pictured surrounded by five Austrian players inside the box. He still found that nutmeg goal at the death, bodies fixated on him but ultimately amounting to little.

At 39, he is the player who has scored more World Cup goals after the age of 35 than many legends managed in their entire careers. Messi now lives in the oddities and the bizarre.

“The way he moves, the way he is the spider in the net, makes everything work. They [Argentina] are just like, ‘Show us the way and we will follow’,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic remarked yesterday.

At the peak of his powers, Messi gave Barcelona everything, but little transpired for Argentina. At the twilight of his career, that failure seems to have lit a fire once more. If he is relaxed, the anger still shimmers just beneath the surface.

Messi is finding joy in the paradoxes, in the game.

He is splitting the atoms of his game.