Lionel Messi was at his best early in Inter Miami CF’s MLS opener, even if a defender from the opposition was not.
In the final minutes of the first half of Miami’s 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Messi took control of the ball outside the goal box — and dribbled the ball over a down defender’s body.
Messi took the ball in the 44th minute and adeptly moved around one Salt Lake defender with a move toward his left before flicking the ball over Andrew Brody’s body.
The Argentine superstar ran around Brody and then corralled the ball, getting off a shot that ended up getting blocked.
Social media was abuzz about the ball skills from Messi.
“Bro… Messi literally did the soccer version of AI’s step over… over an injured RSL player,” wrote one X user, making reference to the infamous Allen Iverson step-over of Tyronn Lue during Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
“Messi really dribbled an injured player by chipping him with the precision of a surgeon. He’s so fake man,” wrote another.
One user even said Messi was essentially playing a video game.
“Messi just chipped the ball over an injured Andrew Brody and kept going around him like he was just a cone during a training drill Dude is playing FIFA in real life,” they wrote.
It was an eventful game for Messi, who assisted on the game’s first goal when he put a through ball between two Salt Lake defenders, adroitly hitting Robert Taylor in stride before Taylor whipped the ball into the lower left side of the goal.
Messi also helped set up the second goal of the game, taking a long run from midfield before dishing to new teammate Luis Suarez, who then set up Diego Gomez for Miami’s second goal in the 83rd minute.
