Salah assad. What is wrong with Gourcuff ? Lionel Messi - Boy Genius. 'Mythical, universal, the Lord's anointed one'- Spain hails Lionel Messi. Leo Messi did something impossible last night. He got even better. He had scored in the Champions League final, the Copa del Rey final and the World Club Cup final, emulated that goal from Diego Maradona, hit three in the clasico against Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, two at the Santiago Bernabéu, and scored two hat-tricks in a row. But he'd never scored four before.
Until last night. Last night, even Marca and AS, the myopic leaders of the Madrid media dropped to their knees; last night, so did the English. They could ignore him no more. Last night, as El PaÌs, put it, "Messi ate Arsenal". AS has long been proud of its cagumetro - literally, crapping-yourself-o-meter - the tool used to 'measure' the fear they claim grips Barcelona fans every time Real Madrid rear into view, its needle furiously twitching before shooting up towards a million cagahertz.
It is a pertinent question. But all that's not entirely new. So was the reaction from England, the unanimous acclaim. In conversation With Socrates.