Lionel Messi's One-Two Passing

 Lionel Messi is the best dribbler in the world with no doubt. The ball is stuck on his foot, and he can dribble past defenders very easily. However, when there are lots of defenders, even Messi cannot dribble past them. Therefore, Messi uses simple one-two passes to get past defenders. He basically uses a moving wall to pass the ball and get it back immediately. This is really effective, but it requires extremely accurate short passes. In fact, this is a clip that shows how effective one-two passing is.



 If you watch the video you can see that Messi does not dribble at all inside the penalty box. He just uses two players to play the one-two pass and shoots when he sees the gap between the defenders. As you can see, the defenders have no chance at all. It is almost impossible to keep an eye at the player who is moving, when the ball is somewhere else. If Messi decided to dribble past everyone by himself, he would have never scored. The quality of the pass is also amazing. Since the return passes to Messi is so accurate, the defenders cannot do anything about it. If the passes were a little off target, the defenders would kick the ball away.

 If the video above was an example of Messi using his teammates who are standing still, this is a video of Messi and Iniesta actually playing the one-two passes while moving.



 Again, the passes are so accurate, and the defenders cannot do anything about it. It is just amazing how Messi and Iniesta can play the ball like that in such a tight space. Also, the way how Iniesta flicks the ball up to make a perfect scoring chance is just wonderful. As I mentioned in my last article "Xavi Hernandez's First Touch", first touch is very important to get rid of pressure. In this video, Iniesta shows not only accurate passes, but also a great first touch to give him space to shoot.

 Sometimes good dribbling skills can help you past one or two defenders, but one-two passes are the most effective way to get past 'lots' of defenders and actually break down the defence.