The Lionel Messi Experience
Camp Nou, April 2015. It’s 2:00 am in Delhi and the match is 74 minutes old.
Camp Nou, April 2015. It’s 2:00 am in Delhi and the match is 74 minutes old.
“Man, this is too tactical, too cautious from both coaches. I’ll just hit the sack.”
“Alright, good night. Think I’ll do the same.”
“Messi please just sco…. WOOOAH. Damn son, what a hit!”
1–0.
Three minutes later.
“Messi. Messiii. OH MY F**KING GOD WHAT A GOAL!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTGDevbDOg
The last bit was said in perfect unison by the two people who were planning to switch off the telly. Three minutes between wanting to go sleep and wanting the match to go on forever. It was as if Lionel Messi wanted to summarise his footballing skills and put it on a plate for everyone who thought he was on a decline heading into 2015.
What followed in the next couple of months was a filthy show of everything that is great about this little man. I use that word because it’s unfair to everyone else. Jerome Boateng is a World champion and one of the world’s best centre-backs. He doesn’t deserve to be torn apart the way he was.
Atheltic Bilbao were facing up to Messi in the final of Spain’s premier cup competition. Their defenders didn’t deserve this on that stage. Andres Iniesta is an all-time great and has achieved all there is, he most certainly didn’t deserve to be outdone at his role on Europe’s biggest match by his own teammate who isn’t even a midfielder. Cristiano Ro..you know what, I’ll just let it be.
If you’re into numbers and graphs, I’d recommend this article, which shows exactly why you need to consider Messi as world’s best.
It’s an experience watching him at full tilt, really. You’re mesmerized every time. Between that Getafe goal and his fifth Ballon d’Or, very few people worth their salt can boast of not raising a single eyebrow in sheer wonder. He was a kid at a playground then, turns out he still is. Probably, this is what it felt like watching the likes of Cruyff and Maradona. Just a lingering feeling of ‘how?’. He makes you welp like a kid, irrespective of your age and stature. Watch Joe Hart agree. I don’t think you can blame Ray Hudson for sounding the way he does every time Messi has the ball at his feet. On the contrary, I think he perfectly sums up how we feel too.
One could almost say, Messi’s career has gone one full circle and is already preparing for the next one. He’s gone from a tender right winger, to a classy inside forward, to a world-class centre-forward, to a goal-scoring mammoth back to a right-winger who is now better than everyone at everything a footballer can do. And he’s just 29. And Liverpool still haven’t won the league, but we digress.
On his fifth Ballon d’Or win, some of his teammates expectedly couldn’t stop waxing lyrical about him. One that stood out was from Xavi, who apparently held him by the collar in December 2014 and told him “get your shit together”. He said Messi wants to improve all the time. His quest for getting better is the same now as it was all those years back when he made his debut. It’s scary, because you’d think there isn’t much left for Messi to improve upon. He clearly doesn’t think so. What is it with the world’s greatest champions and this same mentality?
He was accused of returning for pre-season slightly overweight, owing to his love for cola and meat. So he returns earlier, leaner and fitter than ever for 2015–16. He might be the first person to break the whole concept of weaker foot. There was a two month long phase in 2015 where he had more right foot goals than with his left. That chip against Neuer was right foot too, by the way. He’s also become one of the world’s best free-kick takers too. Does he know there aren’t enough goals getting scored directly from corners. Guess he does. Alright, then.
I envy the season-ticket holders at Barcelona. They get to see a magician at the peak of his powers thirty times a year. At some level, it has to be therapeutic. If you love the game enough, one of Messi’s dribbles must’ve been medicine for you. Can someone already get a “Forget anti-depressants, watch Lionel Messi play” hoarding in Catalonia, please? Thank you.
We’re privileged beings, for all the luxuries we have to ourselves. One of them, is being able to switch on the television twice every week and watch a little guy from Rosario play football.