Spanish Inquisition: Lionel Messi - Are We Watching The Greatest Player In History?

Goal.com - Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:10 PM GMT+08:00

Throughout the pages of time we have been treated to some of the greatest players to grace a football pitch. These players are widely regarded as heroes, the closest we have come to realising our childhood dreams of Superman, Spiderman, or Batman.

So exceptional are their exhibitions of extraordinary talent and skill that they have been elevated to legendary status as fathers nostalgically tell their sons where they were in 1958 when a 17-year-old Pele deftly flicked and then volleyed home against Sweden or in 1986 when Diego Maradona wove through the England national team. They make seasoned defenders who have devoted their lives to becoming lauded professionals at their respective positions look like nothing more than panicked children - and not just once or twice, but with stunning regularity.

Maradona, Pele, Di Stefano, Beckenbauer, Platini, Baggio, Cruyff, and many more players whose last names alone are sufficient in jogging fond memories were, without a doubt, legends of their time. But fuelled by the power and riches of global commercialisation, the modern age of football now boasts defenders that are bigger, faster, stronger, more skilled, and more tactically intelligent than those that faced players of even 10 or 15 years ago. Today, players are developed from every end of the earth and the football talent pool has become an ocean of players who have become much more specialised in their trade. One wonders if such last names would have been so easily recognised in today’s game.

Today we have our own legends - contemporary idols the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo who have climbed to the height of footballing glory. But while there is no denying what these players have contributed in their careers in making football look like a beautiful dance, there is one player who, despite only being 22 years old, is beginning to tower above them all.

Ironically, that towering figure was originally thought to be too small for competitive football because of a growth hormone deficiency. Standing at just 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in), Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has become the face of footballing legend. Where Zeus was the god of the sky, Poseidon the god of the sea, Hades the god of the Underworld, and Apollo the god of the sun, the ancient Greeks, given the choice of players in history until today, would have chosen Messi as their God of football.
You and I are witnessing history. With a style that initially elicited a likeness to Maradona but has now become all his own, Messi is unstoppable. In dribbling, the ball seems tethered to his boot as he manages to zig-zag through defences and cut past players with his patented stop-start bursts of acceleration, creating and exploiting space that no one else on the pitch or in front of the television can see or could have imagined. His low centre of gravity, long thought to be his biggest flaw among defenders far stronger than he, has become his biggest asset, as despite his stature, he is nearly impossible to catch off balance and acquit of possession.

Once he gets going, the little Argentine leaves opposing defenders, and for that matter opposing fans, with their hearts in their throats and little more than their prayers that he not score. Bamboozling defenders left and right and wrong-footing keepers, it is a wonder Messi has not broken an ankle of those who try to keep pace with his trickery.

There are a number of players who demand the marking of at least two defenders and the attention of an entire defence. Cristiano Ronaldo consistently elicits panic in a backline when the ball is at his feet. In the Premier League, just two years after the record was set, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is on pace to break Ronaldo’s mark of 42 goals in a season. But anyone who has seen Messi play, regardless of team partiality, cannot help but admit that 'La Pulga' is operating on a plane all his own.

Winning third, second, and then finally first last year in the Ballon d’Or voting, Messi’s ascension to the very top of the world stage has been well documented. Few can forget his reproduction of Maradona’s 1986 Goal of the Century in the Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe three years ago when he was just 19 years old at the time. Dispelling any doubt of his ability to perform in big matches, Messi iced the Champions League final last season with a goal against Rooney and Ronaldo’s Manchester United... on a header no less.


This season, the number one player in the Castrol Rankings has continued to score decisive goals, giving Barca their sixth consecutive title at the Club World Cup with his goal in extra time. In La Primera, he is the Pichichi (leading scorer) and in the past seven days, he has scored eight goals. If he continues at the same pace in the remaining 11 La Liga fixtures that remain in the season, he will shatter Hugo Sanchez/Telmo Zarra’s Primera record of 38 goals in a season.

But what makes Messi definitively better than all his contemporaries and all that came before him is not just what he does offensively, but what he does in defence. When coach Pep Guardiola arrived at Barca, he told his Argentinean star, “You are already the best player in the world with the ball – now you must be the best without it”.

The extra work has yielded exponentially great returns. Aside from scoring goals and ravaging defensive schemes, Messi can be seen sprinting all over the pitch in defence, the first to blaze forward to pressure opposing goalkeepers, defenders, and midfielders, and even backtracking deep into his own half to harass forwards in an effort recover possession for his team. All around, there is no player on the planet like Lionel Messi and his teammates seem to agree.

Just one week ago, after Messi scored a hat trick to crush Valencia’s hopes of taking away points from a well-fought match, Blaugrana goalkeeper Victor Valdes voiced his admiration for his small-in-stature teammate. "Messi is already the best player in the world, but he could become the greatest footballer in history”, said Valdes. Yesterday after Messi scored his second consecutive La Liga hat trick against Zaragoza, Barca president Joan Laporta declared that Messi was the best of all time. “He is the best player in the world and in history. Along with Cruyff and Maradona, he is the best Barca has ever had”, said the supremo.

While one does not become the best in history in the course of a single week of hat tricks, Valdes and Laporta’s declarations are no less credible. The simple objective truth is that given his age, skill, personal accolades, and team trophies, Messi is very much near or at the top of footballing history.

However, there is one element that keeps Messi’s unchallenged claim as the best footballer in history in question: World Cup glory. Some attribute his inability to perform with the Argentina national team to a lack of supporting players that he has at Barcelona, some attribute it to a change in position, and some chalk it up to Diego Maradona’s ineptitude as a coach.
Whatever the case may be, Messi has been unable to make the same impact for his country as he has very firmly stamped with his club. In what is rumoured to be an attempt to expose him to a variety of positions so that he can adapt to different roles with the Albiceleste, Guardiola has given Messi more responsibility at Barca than his customary right-wing role, playing him as a centre striker, on the left, and even as a midfielder.

To cement his place as the best footballer to have graced the face of planet Earth, Messi must lead Argentina team to a World Cup title. Whether he does that this summer in South Africa, when he is 26, or when he is 30 remains to be seen. But for a player of such immeasurable talent, it can only be a matter of time before he puts the final piece in place and achieves unparalleled glory - and all of it with a boyish grin and humble praise for his teammates.

With the vast sums of money spent on scouting new talents, more and more often are reports coming to light that tout a youngster to become the next Maradona, the next Pele, the next Zidane, the next Ronaldo (both the Brazilian and the Portuguese). But at just 22 years old, we haven’t even begun to see the next Messi. The ‘Messishow’ is just getting started and when it is done, it will go down as the greatest in footballing history (if it has not done so already).