It took 18 minutes today and a disallowed goal that should’ve counted but Lionel Messi is now officially back, scoring in his first start after being back from a knee injury. Messi put Barcelona up to a 2-0 lead against Roma in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Barcelona has been routinely attempting throughballs over the Roma backline all game. This time, Messi calmly passed back to Neymar who passed it right back. Then Messi passed it back to Suarez who immediately led Messi over the defense. Then after a simple chip over Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, Barcelona enjoyed a 2-0 lead.
I do have to say, I’m amazed by Dani Alves’ control to not just get glancing contact on the ball as it was going in. I mean, if the ball is going in anyway, may as well get on the scoresheet. Messi has plenty of goals, I wouldn’t have blamed Alves for doing that. It’s probably something I would do when I used to play.
