Best In the World

Many argue about who the best player in the World is, but for me there is no contest. Proven against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Messi has once again displayed the sublime skill we have come to expect from him. A surging run from about 40 yards out, taking the ball past 5 defenders and slotting past Casillas.

Many people say Ronaldo is better than Messi, for which I can see no valid reasoning. Ronaldo does score a lot of goals, true, however his ‘good goals’ are simply long range shots. Ronaldo is not capable of the close control at speed that Messi has displayed throughout his short career so far. Ronaldo is selfish – he will only cross or slot in a team mate when he feels he cannot score from that position (and even then he will often still elect to shoot). Messi meanwhile plays in his team mates every single game. He has a striker’s instinct to shoot when he sees the option, but it is clear he values a team win more than goals for himself, which Ronaldo I’m afraid does not. Messi’s ‘good goals’ are either mazy runs cutting through a team where he feels it would be irresponsible to gamble with a long distance shot (although he is capable of long shots as you can see on youtube) and instead gets near to the goal to create an assist or score himself.

The two players are summed up quite effectively by the following statement:

When watching Ronaldo play, you hope for a good goal. When watching Messi, you expect one.

The standards which he has consistently set and then surpassed have made him a true legend. With two Champions League winner’s medals, four La Liga titles and the world player of the year in both 2009 and 2010 he was already a special player before this season, but this season he has enhanced his reputation even further. At time of writing, his current tally of 52 goals for the season (taking him to 179 in 264 games for Barcelona) is astounding. He is fast becoming the highest goal scorer for Barcelona (currently ranked third), at just 23 years of age. The main cup evading him so far is that of the World Cup, but I’m sure that will soon follow.

I’m sure that many others as well as myself would pay just to watch him play. When I turn on the TV for a Champions League game, it is almost with reluctance that I want the English team to win, as that would restrict us from watching the brilliance of Lionel Messi.

Whereas occasionally, if on their day, some of the World’s greatest players are unplayable, Messi is unplayable regularly. When he gets the ball defenders don’t know what to do, if they go to him he’ll take it past them, if they back off he’ll take it past them or slip in a ball to a fellow striker. He is so unpredictable yet so reliable. I am personally privileged to have seen him play, and am excited to see how he develops, as he has not yet hit what many consider to be the ‘golden age’ for footballers, around 26-31, but you have to ask yourself, can he get any better?