Every shot that Messi didn’t make, wasn’t a goal.
He only ever scores when he shoots at the goal. Which he does.
Most importantly, he’ll frequently shoot despite the possibility that it might be a miss. Rather frequently, actually: he scores only 1 out of 8 attempts.
In other words: he fails almost 88% of the time.
And yet, he is admired as one of the best scorers who ever played football.
When we speak of geniuses, this is an aspect that’s often overlooked: Most geniuses don’t fail less, the fail more. Simply because they try more often.
But more attempts mean more possibilities for a hit.
It’s a mistake to only attempt a shot if you are 100% certain that it will be a goal.