Is There Any Question Mark On Messi?

Lionel Messi is not yet 22. He is poised to win the Ballon D’or this year unless something disastrous happens ( read Argentina not qualifying for WC 2010 ). In the Ballon D’ors for 2007 and 2008, he has come 3rd and 2nd. This season he has been the star of Barcelona’s treble winning campaign. In that he has scored 38 goals and contributed 18 assists. He is the top scorer in UCL 2008-09 and is sure to be chosen the tournament's best player as well.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored 42 goals in the 2007-08 season and it was considered a monumental achievement. Messi has scored only 4 less. And I am sure his assists count is much higher. Now remember this – Messi does not have Ronaldo’s power, his ability to accurately strike powerful goals from distance, is not great in the air (that UCL final goal was an exception) and hardly ever scores from a free kick. So the only way he could have scored so many goals is by dribbling past opponents at lightning speed with breathtaking ball control, exchanging passes with team mates continuously and just sliding or chipping the ball into the goal from a wide number of angles. When you consider this carefully you will realize that we are talking about a ball player of peerless ability – right up there with the greats of football in terms of ability alone even though he has a long way to go in order to match their achievements in terms of trophies.

Yet you will hear stray comments now and then saying Messi is overrated. Where do they come from? One reason could be that he plays for such a brilliant team that he does not carry his team completely on his own shoulders. In crucial matches for Barcelona he is sometimes not the best player on the pitch as that mantle is sometimes taken up by Andres Iniesta, Xavi and even Thierry Henry such as in El Classico. Not that he is not great but that there’s sometimes someone even better than him. Messi played a big role in the UCL 2008-09 final but he was only Barcelona’s third best player after Iniesta and Xavi. Similarly he was one of the stars of El Classico but there were several others and Henry was the actual man of the match. This criticism has specially increased after the UCL semi final. It’s said Messi didn’t play a starring role there. What some people do not realize is that in every match there are at least three players man marking Messi and sometimes even four. Due to this Iniesta and Xavi get more freedom to play their natural game, not that I am trying to question their abilities in any possible way.

So what do people hold against Messi? As far as Barcelona is concerned there is a belief that he has not yet made the kind of contributions that Ronaldinho made between 2004 and 2006. This belief is not without foundation because there were times when Ronaldinho made the team look like a one man show – such was his impact when he was at his best. Yet we must not forget two things. Ronaldinho then was three years older than what Messi is now. Also the present Barcelona team has more overall quality and is more of a team than the unit Ronaldinho led to various victories.

The other comparison which is very damaging for Messi is the comparison to football’s demi god Diego Maradona. What Maradona did with Argentina 1986 is one of the most non-repeatable feats ever possible. And as for his impact at Napoli, that’s a legend in its own right. Messi, unless something strange happens, will never play for a small enough club where he can be the only star. So expecting Messi to become a Mardona even though he has executed a copy of Maradona’s goal of the century is just too much.

So what more does Messi need to do? Above all he needs to do something for his national team. Yes he almost single handedly won Argentina the Olympics 2008 gold medal but it’s not enough for such a passionate football super power. Incredibly Argentina are in danger of missing out on qualification for WC 2010. If that happens, Messi could become a hate figure in his own country. However that will not happen and then will come the question of performing at the world cup. Can Argentina win it? At the moment the bookies put them third behind Spain and Brazil. If you look at their team the goalkeeper is a sort of new comer, the defense has major problems and the midfield has virtually no top class players in their prime besides Javier Mascherano. Yes in the forwards department Argentina is blessed with riches – Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and some others as well besides ‘The Flea’ of course. Yet can forwards alone win you a world cup? Add to that the fact that the coach is a playing legend with hardly any experience in football management and has been appointed so late that he has absolutely no time to implement his miscellaneous radical ideas. Is it fair to expect Messi to carry such a team on his own shoulders to world cup glory? Even Maradona was 26 years old when he did this and El Mesias will only be 23. So should we give him time till WC 2014 before deciding just how good he can be called when compared to the all time greats?