Messi the Child
For me there are two enduring images from the Nou Camp last night. Lionel Messi returning from one of his goals, smiling and shaking his head from side to side and Lionel Messi, when the game was over, clutching the ball in his hands, another huge smile on his face, while surrounded by his similarly joyful team mates.
Pace, strength, control, vision all contributed to Messi’s four goals, but so did the spirit of this little big man who plays his best football when he enjoys it, like a child his favourite toy. In Messi’s presence, the gravity of Wenger and Pep Guardiola seemed almost out of place, the suffering of the labouring, outgunned Gunners all the more striking.
Messi was confirmed as the (current) World’s best player, but has he surpassed Maradona? Diego was always at his happiest on his pitch, making up for the demons that encroached upon him off it. He could also inspire a whole team while single-handedly defining the character and outcome of a match. But he did all this when he was older than Messi is.
Mercifully, Messi’s young adult hood has not been tainted by drugs and other excesses (the only exception a period of wild partying with Deco and Ronaldinho in the pre-Guardiola era.) When Messi is at the top of his form as he was last night, Barca is poetry in motion and also a team in which everyone is inspired to win back the ball. And yet Messi’s greatness will be tested this summer when, with Maradona as his coach, he will need to prove that he can inspire Argentina just as Diego did in Mexico 1986.
But there is a while to go before South Africa and an old ghost from Maradona’s past haunts Messi’s path to glory: that of Andoni Goikoetxea. It was in September 1983 that Goikoetxea, the Atletico de Bilbao defender caught Maradona from behind and hacked him with one of most brutal fouls in footballing history. No matter that Cesar Menotti, the Argentine Barca coach at the time, accused the Basque of belonging to a ‘race of anti-footballers.’ The result was that Maradona suffered a severe injury to his left ankle tendons and was unable to play for another three months.
Against Real Madrid this coming weekend, and later this month against Mourinho’s Inter, Messi will face tougher opposition than Arsenal, with players not only capable of ending his season, but happy to do so, for the sake of victory. Never has the child Messi looked so vulnerable in an adult world.
Messi was truly amazing. Without him Barça is a good team but nothing compared to last year. Anyway, they will come down to earth when they meet Real Madrid this Saturday where the galacticos will confrim their leadership and dominance of the Spanish liga by beating the ego inflated catalan team. Then they face Mourinho!! So there season will probably be trophyless while the glorious Blues win the FA Cup + the best league in the world: the Premier.
Wenger showed nobility in his comments as did Almunia.
Jimmy, there’s no question that Messi was awesome. But let’s not forget that, with the score at 0-0, the child genius got Denilson booked with a shameful bit of play-acting that any grizzled old pro would have been proud of.
He may be young, but he’s not naive.
Don’t think Mourinho can beat Barca only through strategy and hard play. It’s not like-for-like with Messi, Xavi and Iniesta et. al. They play a different game. Like Messi v Ferdinand in last year’s CL final -Messi won as Ferdinand is more comfy defending against his similars, ie Fernando Torres, when it’s about body force, pace. Messi is in another world -where Mourinho doesn’t play.
We’ll be in Madird on May 22.
salut!
Peter, when you are hurdling wild challenges; bouncing back up off the floor following stray elbows and, when not quite nimble enough to avoid it, being hacked down on a weekly basis as often as he is, you can understand that Messi has learned how to look after himself!
Carlos, time to forgive and forget last year’s semi result eh, and just hope that one day the old men of Chelsea will be replaced by young exciting talents rather than their ageing money focused “stars”. Who knows, perhaps Chelsea’s own expensive youth system may in time again develop the odd player given half a chance!
Not seeing that Messi has something special and is currently miles ahead of any other player in the world and that Barca is playing the most beatiful football seen recently can only be due to blindness or envy… however some teams and their supporters don’t understand that all that really matters is not only money and ‘super-stars’ who are as famous for their ‘performances’ off the pitch as for those they seldomly do on it!
Martin, thanks for the advice! It was such a blatant act of misjustice (and probable fixing by Platini) that it still gnaws, especially when Mr Burns refuses to accept that Chelsea were a better team over the 2 legs. Anyway I will rest the issue. Yes you are right, it is time the Chelsea youth programme began to produce young new stars. I think that here, the Barcelona example is light years ahead, not only in producing stars but backing them by playing them in the first team. The rest of the clubs are too scared to do that, most notably Real Madrid who once had a wealth of home grown talent. Finally to comment on Jaume (as I mentioned in a previous comment), football is not just about beauty. Thats what annoys me about the Cule Fans, they just go on about “beauty”.. yawn, yawn. For example the electric tension in the second half of the Man Utd v Bayern game was gripping. Not much beauty but awesome 45 minutes – far better than the Barcelona v Arsenal game save the 4 messi goals or about 5 minutes of orgasmic pleasure. I have often been bored blind by Barcelona possession football. Give me the raw, tense game any day.
Chelsea is rubbish. Look at their role models. Full of cheaters, gamblers and players who are famous for not playing football and get millions. Let me say that John Terry is a real role model, kids wanna be like him when they grow up. What an idol.
You will never win The Champions League because you dont deserve it.
Glad you enjoyed watching Barça trash Real Madrid once again.Of course you like Real, you have the same philosophy, money money money. You guys think that buying everyone will make you the best team in Europe. It takes more than that. By the way you should give up following football. Keep it on the rugby and fight club side. If you dont enjoy football the way it should be played then you are not from this world.
Tell me your team dont get you bored. I could go on and on saying how GREAT your football club is, starting from fans to players. It all goes in the same pack. You deserve each other.