Manchester City v. Barcelona. A contest tighter than anticipated. Messi, ineffective. Barca appearing lost as a result. Perhaps Martin Demichelis felt bad for his compatriot. Perhaps he was looking at a pair of tatas in the stands that caught his eye. Perhaps his ponytail got in the way. Whatever the reason, as Messi somehow sprung the City offside trap and rushed from an improbable angle to shoot with his left foot at Joe Hart, the Argentine defender slid in from behind. Was it a penalty, was it not? The debate will rage forever. Was it contact? Yes. A red card? Without a shadow of a doubt.
Barcelona capitulated rather meekly to Atletico Madrid later in the competition. Their problem? Another Argentine. Not Messi, no no he was below his Godly levels all year. It was down the other end of the field. It was Javier Mascherano. It doesn’t take an expert to know Barca don’t have adequate cover at center back. It also does not need a brain capable of understanding the theory of relativity that Mascherano is certainly not the man from midfield to drop into defence. Yet surprisingly Barca almost won the league that way. Whether a damning indictment of the lack of quality in La Liga, or a praise of Mascherano is open to debate.
And then the World Cup rolled around. Fanfare. Hooplah. Messi v. Ronaldo v. Robben v. Neymar v. James v. The Germany Team. Wow. It would be epic and Argentina were touted as pre-tournament favorites. Their one weakness was written about as their defence. Of course it was. The front four were Di Maria, Aguero, Higuain and of course – Messi. Their back four? Zabaleta, Demichelis, Garay and Rojo. With Mascherano shielding them. Disaster, right? Wrong.
Every match Argentina won in the tournament was by a margin of a single goal. First game 2-1, second match 1-0 and the third and final group game was 3-2. Thereafter a 1-0 scoreline sufficed till the semifinals where the Dutch took the Albiceleste to extra time and penalties. After a scoreless 120 minutes, Sergio Romero who spent the season warming the AS Monaco bench was the hero in a sensational triumph. For a defence expected to crumble and require the attackers to outscore the opposition, conceding only four goals was a spectacular achievement. Not only in the context of the tournament, but on a personal level.