Lionel Messi's greatest dribble? Viral video of Barcelona's legend's epic run in 2015 | OneFootball

Lionel Messi might just be the greatest dribbler in the history of men’s football.

While Diego Maradona and Garrincha also have strong claims to that title, the Paris Saint-Germain star is virtually unmatched when it comes to his ability to slalom through defences like they aren’t there.

In recent years, Messi has evolved more into a deep-lying playmaker, relying less on wiggling his way through six players and more leaning into his ability to pick out eye-of-the-needle passes.

Messi’s genius dribbling

In a similar trend to Cristiano Ronaldo, the peak of Messi’s dribbling ability actually came in his early twenties when no number of opposing players in his way felt like too much of a challenge.

Before the Argentine superstar matured into the goals and assists machine that we know today, he was leaving every man and his dog tackling thin air as he dribbled himself out of every situation.

However, just because Messi’s dribbling might have peaked in the heady days of his Getafe wonder goal, that doesn’t mean for a single second that he still doesn’t have that in his locker.

You only have to look at Messi’s outrageous solo goal in the 2021 Copa del Rey final to establish that he’s only ever a few games away from throwing it back to the 2000s with a moment of genius.

Messi’s most underrated dribble?

And that was certainly the case with one of Messi’s most underrated dribbles that has once again gone viral on social media.

Footage of Messi playing like a man possessed during Barcelona‘s 2-0 win at Eibar in the 2014/15 season has reemerged to the tune of more than 25,000 ‘likes’ and 3,500 retweets at the time of writing.

And frankly, it’s absolutely stunning with Messi deciding enough was enough and taking on half the Eibar side with a solo run so perfect that you’d think it was made on FIFA’s ‘amateur’ setting.

But no, it’s just Messi being Messi at the peak of his powers, so be sure to bow down to his dribbling majesty by checking out the moment that he made Eibar took like training cones below:

It just keeps on going… and going… and going.

The magic of watching Messi

If a goal or assist had come out of that, we’d be talking about it all the time, so there’s almost a joy that comes with Messi’s run taking on the status of a hidden gem.

Besides, it says a lot about just how magical Messi’s finest moments are that even a dribble that didn’t lead to a goal is shared by thousands of people whenever it’s re-shared every other year.

And that’s the universal nature of the love for Messi because it’s in outrageous dribbles like his mazy run against Eibar where you see him so perfectly illustrating his mastery of the beautiful game.

On that note, we’re off to watch the video another 100 times. Be right back.