Messi never dives. You won’t see Messi rolling on the ground or diving to get a call from the referee. And that’s part of what makes Lionel Messi such an easy player to love, besides his obvious genius with the soccer ball.
It’s how Messi carries himself on the field and how humble he is when you consider he’s the greatest soccer player on the planet. You rarely if ever never see Messi complain or yell at the referees. You just don’t see Messi dive or even fall down. He tries to keep going, keep running, keep dribbling the soccer ball. His desire to win and to score goals makes him continue to move forward with soccer ball even when he’s pushed or kicked.
You just never see Messi fake an injury or dive, he’s the rare exception in today’s game. Young players watch how Messi uses his body to protect the soccer ball as he dribbles, shielding the ball from defenders and never going down.
If you want to stop Messi, you have to actually tackle him. He just won’t dive. You’re not going to see Messi rolling around on the ground faking an injury to draw a penalty kick. That’s what great about Messi and another reason why he’s the best soccer player in the world.
More video of Messi just not going down so easy. I wonder if he learned that growing up in Argentina or at Barcelona. Or maybe it’s just in his nature and character to not fake an injury or dive. At his core there is a certain integrity about Messi. He’s not Maradona. Which is both good and maybe bad at times where you just have to do maybe unsavory things in order to win games sometimes.