The mere presence of greatness can have an extraordinary effect. And so it did on Saturday evening in Seville when Lionel Messi stepped off the bench with a serious glare and trotted on to save Barcelona from a first league defeat of the season.
Barca had been outplayed by a super Sevilla side, yet any analysis was quickly deemed futile. Messi made sure of that. From the moment he came on, still struggling with niggling hamstring and adductor problems and under instructions to avoid sprints and quick changes of pace, everything changed.
It took a while, but in 47 seconds of madness, Barca scored twice to come back from 2-0 down and preserve their unbeaten record in La Liga. Just when we think we have seen it all, Messi shows us something new.
Goal.com
