Lionel Messi has been showered with so much praise that the search for flaws is inevitable and no doubt there are some who, while watching the latest gripping instalment of football's Downton - could any true lover of the game miss a Clasico? - bemoaned the occasional exaggeration of a tackle's impact.
Not this viewer. For me, the enduring image was the divine pass that Eric Abidal steered past Iker Casillas to give Barcelona a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-final first leg last night.
When it came to cynicism, Messi hardly registered. Not alongside the revolting Pepe, who kicked and conned in equal measure at the Bernabeu, and Sergio Busquets, whose accomplishment is betrayed by a villain's instinct. Though the nastiness failed to outweigh the quality displayed, the latter stages emphasised that Jose Mourinho, while adding spice to the relationship between Spain's giants, has poisoned it. But he has not quelled Messi. And nor has the Argentine allowed his behaviour to descend to the level Mourinho occasionally encourages.
Messi wins with dignity. He greets goals not with a self-indulgent gesture but a humble glance at the heavens. When he skips over a tackle and falls, it is principally to protect himself from injury; he, less than any other footballer, needs unfair advantage. And it is the duty of a referee to understand that.
Most do. They, and the laws of the game, are more sensitive to the creative process than in the day of Diego Maradona, who became the world's greatest footballer and hurdler at the same time and yet still could not avoid injury.
Football is a better place today, for all its shortcomings. The Messis are given reasonable protection from the Pepes and not made to suffer too horribly for their art. And all we have to do is sit back and celebrate it. For Messi does nothing to the spirit of the game but sustain it.
