BARCELONA, Spain — When you can smell the freshly cut and watered grass, you know you are close. When I sat down with my father in the first row at the Camp Nou last week before Barcelona played Paris St.-Germain in the Champions League, the sprinklers were still on, making the glorious green field slick and fast to suit the style of the home team.

This was one of those experiences when even part of it would have been enough. Being in the stadium was enough. Seeing the game live was enough. But front row seats, and seeing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez score — that was almost too much. There are some moments in life for which you cannot write a more perfect script. This game was one of them.

Despite witnessing a poetically brilliant event up close, I’m always in the mind-set of a professional player and student of the game. Here are three observations from watching this spectacle live, from field level:

1. Even in the basics, this was mastery of another dimension. Watching top men’s teams warm up is always intriguing. Warm-ups in soccer are standard for the most part. Every team warms up. Most elite teams have a bit of time for the players to jog and kick around on their own, then go into a series of organized dynamic movements and stretches, followed by some possession, then shooting for attacking players and functional work for defenders. But never has the sentiment “the same but different” struck me as it did with these players. Never have the basics looked more thrilling. Their physical and technical capabilities, even while doing very mundane drills, were breathtaking. The speed and efficiency with which these guys do the basics we all learn as players is mind-blowing. The warm-up was only a foreshadowing. Watching this game redefined my concept of soccer mastery. Passes zipped across the wet grass at warp speed, only to be killed — over and over — with a perfect first touch by the recipient, who often also was running at full speed.

2. Lionel Messi’s movement and timing are even better in person. Often it is hard to truly appreciate players’ work rate and movement on television, which follows the ball. I will admit that for the first portion of the game, I felt Messi was being lazy. He seemingly just hung out wherever it was easiest to receive the ball with little pressure, then he would drift really deep, away from where he could even be considered dangerous.