In a crowded café on Barcelona’s Plaza Molina, they chant his name, exuberant at the flash of magic. Waiters pound their metal trays on the counter, college students throw their arms in the air, and old men shake their heads in disbelief. Together they shout his name with abandon, over and over again. Messi! Messi! Messi! He’s done it again. On this night, the shining light of Barcelona football has created a moment of legend, the type of play that turns mortal players into a name that is chanted into the night.
I found this café by accident, wandering down the hillside from my flat in Putxet. Plaza Molina, a busy Metro stop, was not my destination. Typically, I strolled past the bustling square on my way into Gràcia, skipping the little restaurants on the border of the plaza filled with commuters and business people stopping for drinks on the way home.
But the lights of a small place on the corner caught my eye. My only goal was to find a place to watch the Barca match and have a beer. The café was small, but I spotted an empty stool at the cramped counter. Drowned by the sound of the announcers booming from the TV, I shouted an order for patatas bravas and slid between a stoic older couple and two surly-looking young men in black. Everyone was glued to the TV, ignoring the chatter and bustle of the restaurant around them. The game progressed; people cheered and drank. And then it happened: a flash of greatness, something wild and wonderful that would leave us flabbergasted, excited, and mesmerized by the ability of an athlete to create something mythical.
Lionel Messi is no ordinary superstar in Barcelona, and this was no ordinary match. It was the semifinal of the Champions League, Europe’s biggest tournament, an event that surpasses the Super Bowl on the world stage. The opponent was German power Bayern Munich, a team that many believed was destined to win the tournament, led by the stars who had won Germany the World Cup title the year before. Every café and bar in Barcelona was filled with fans, as the city ritualistically ceased activity to focus on the crucial match for La Blaugrana.
The goal was pure Messi. More than simply a quick kick or a lucky header, it was executed with Messi’s particular style and flair. It was his second of the match, a dagger to the heart of Bayern’s hopes. In a sport that reveres the “beautiful game,” Messi created a piece of art. At the 80th minute, just three minutes after his first goal, he took the ball at the top of the box and moved toward the goal. With one juke to his left and a stutter step to his right, he completely turned around All-Star Bayern defender Jérôme Boateng, who did an awkward pirouette and fell to the turf. And then, as the coup de grace, Messi used a deft touch to lift the ball over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, one of the world’s best, who at 6 feet 4 towers over 5-foot-5-inch Messi, known as La Pulga, the Flea.
