Pool photo by Manu Fernandez
Lionel Messi turned his back. He had given the ball away, but he made no effort to atone for his error, no attempt to regain control. He stopped, waited a beat, and then looked to the other end of the field. It was as if he knew what was going to happen, and he did not care — or could not bear — to watch.
Once it had happened, Quique Sétien turned away, too, with a shake of the head and a shrug of the shoulders, looking to his coaching staff for an explanation or a bit of solace or confirmation that this was not real — because it could not be real — and it was all some horrible hallucination.