This is an interesting detail, mind you.
Messi had been disposessed only once. Once. Well yeah i thought something else was incredible tonight but don't know what. It's this fact:
5 dribbles succeeded
1 disposessed
9 times being fouled... 9!
You see so many times i've seen that messi, with so many take ons he tried in a match, although gets a lot of that succeeded, also got dispossed pretty often. You can see the stats yourself. Also considering the amount of men around him, quite logical.
But tonight, atletico just can't take/ didn't bother to go for the ball. They just tried to slam his feet whenever he got into a run, although still failed in several occasions. I think they're planning to get his emotion high. But they failed. He was calm throughout the game this time.
And look at what atleti did with Dest and pedri. They each had 3 and 4 times dispossed. This is not usual. Messi has less disposessed with more dribble attempts and more people around than these guys. It's quite rare.
You see what's going on here??
Atleti has succeeded with their aggressive and strong harsh tackles that made barca players a bit afraid of duels. Look what they've done to Bob. Well ,at least in the 1st half. 2nd half we played well, we manage to dominate them, just lack that final blow.
But messi, just 1 disposessed and 9 times fouled.. just let that sink in..