Lionel Messi's red mist shows player lauded as deity is only human after all | Jonathan Liew

The first red card in his Barcelona career is the culmination of his club’s decline and the kicking he has endured for years

Exactly 90 seconds before the act of violence that will earn Lionel Messi his first red card for Barcelona, he’s standing just inside the halfway line, waiting to receive a pass.

He’s seen a gap. The sort of gap Messi has seen thousands of times before.

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