The ball rolls a few meters backwards, caressed by Iniesta's noble heel, before impacting with Messi's left foot. Then the trajectory, a complex yet linear diagonal, from left to right, tracing the air for a few seconds before the inevitable ditching at the opposite corner of the door. As obvious as breathing, and so automatic as to give the impression that Messi could pull that diagonal even in his sleep, and that it would always end up there, in its natural landing place at the back of the net.
Messi raises his arm and smiles, some comrades run to hug him. All normal, all already seen: Barcelona, you know what's new, is winning two to zero on the field of Betis Sevilla and Messi, you know what's new, has already scored two goals. If you didn't know, if they didn't tell you, you would never realize that this goal is writing history. There is no emphasis in the gestures, nothing extraordinary, just that usual way of celebrating, special in its normality, halfway between the clerk and the poet.
But even if you don't realize it, Messi, by scoring his "official" brace against Betis Seville (the match will end 2-1 for Barcelona) not only leads his team to the dizzying 43 points in 15 days ( make 14 wins and only one draw, the one with Real), but, more than anything else, scores his 86th goal in the calendar year, breaking a record, that of Gerd Muller (deadly pocket center forward of Bayern Munich and West Germany) which had lasted for exactly 40 years, from the year of grace 1972. Eighty-six goals: there are good strikers in the world who have none made many in an entire career.
Impressive numbers, and speak of a player from another planet, destined to reach beatification as early as the day following his retirement (which fortunately is quite far on the horizon). But the record, this record, is just one chapter among the many that make up Messi's endless golden book, the Gospel according to Leo, a book that counts, among other things, 5 Spanish titles, 3 Champions Leagues and as many Golden Balls, as well as more than 200 goals.
And then there's another number, the last one, the one that's really scary, because it gives an exact measure of what the Blaugrana number 10 has done so far, and what he will be able to do in the future. The number is 25: these are the years of Messi.
