CHENNAI: Football is such a complex sport, and every footballer settles into one identity: A striker scores, a playmaker creates, a winger stretches the field. The older you get, the more your magic starts to wear out.
But if you ask any Argentine who the greatest striker, midfielder, playmaker and winger is, you will have one answer: Lionel Andreas Messi.
And if you ask the defenders, they will tell you he’s an alien. One that disappears even before you turn to have a look at your shoulder. The shrug of the shoulders, the sudden acceleration of pace and the change of direction made Messi’s career, and it is his vision and craftsmanship that have made his legacy.
For the past two decades, as Messi has evolved and grown, opponents have searched for the same solution. Either foul him and constantly knock him down to the floor or force him out wide with his right foot, as he is predominantly a left-footed player. For 80-odd minutes in Atlanta, England, I followed that plan to T, like you couldn’t have scripted it any better.
But when you are the greatest scriptwriter, you are immune to such normalcy.
You are constantly driving towards greatness, towards achieving immortality. That’s Messi in the last ten minutes of the game: immortal. You take him down, he gets up shaken, only to start it all over again. You think that marking him with a numerical advantage seals it, then he starts attracting the entire team towards him, allowing the others to have a better shot at greatness.
When you force him wide on his weaker right foot, thinking, ‘Oh, the world is a good place,’ he makes you look like a fool. Hungrier than ever, Messi got the ball on the wing and drove at Djed Spence. 21-year-old Nico O’Reilly also doubled up with Spence, and Messi wasn’t outnumbered; he had nowhere to go. Or that’s what England thinks.
Two players teaming up on Messi, the Argentine on his right foot, how could it get messier? Well, it got Messi, as the Argentine swung a cross right towards Lautaro Martinez, who simply had to nod his head. The rest is history.
In 1986, it was the ‘Hand of God’. 40 years later, England was struck again, but now with ‘Feet of God’. Against most footballers, you defend. Against Messi, all that’s left is a prayer.