Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona were a match made in heaven that was supposed to never end. Unfortunately, real life had other plans.
Follow Us
This was not how it was supposed to end. Lionel Messi was meant to retire at FC Barcelona, a one-club player in the mould of Paolo Maldini or Francesco Totti. And indeed, were it not for La Liga’s financial fair play rules, he might just have been. Unfortunately for the club and the player, Spain’s top-flight league prioritised Barcelona cleaning up their financial mess over keeping Messi. At some level, it is easy to see why. Barca are in debt of over a billion euros. All big clubs have a degree of debt but this… well, this is quite something else.
Practicality can be looked at later though. For now, Barcelona fans are in mourning. Football fans are in shock. And Paris Saint-Germain are rubbing their hands in glee.
Still, the end of Messi’s Barcelona career is the perfect time to look at a player unlike any other to have played the game before him.
There’s a famous story about Ronaldinho’s praise for Messi, when the young Argentine was still a sensation only at the youth level.
The flamboyant Brazilian won the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and when asked how it felt to be the best player in the world, had an interesting reply. “I’m not even the best at Barca”, he said.
Many felt he was hyping up a man whom he saw his successor. And indeed, he was. But his words were also sincere – and proved, in time, to be absolutely spot on.
Leo #Messi, the most decorated player in Barça history
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 6, 2021
No one quite knew what to make of Messi when he first burst on the scene. He started as a right-winger, a small and unassuming player on the flank.
Yet give him the ball and he made the world’s best defenders dance. Who can ever forget when he emulated Maradona’s ‘Goal of the Century’ in a La Liga match? Or the time he made Jerome Boateng – then a world-class defender – turn right, then left and then simply fall over on his backside?
Messi might not have had the party tricks of Ronaldinho, but he matched him in terms of scoring output. And the ability to single-handedly carry a team to glory. He also outdid him in terms of longevity. And Ballon d’Or trophies won.
Messi’s prime years saw him first play in the Pep Guardiola-led golden generation. That batch of La Masia graduates – including Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and many others – ruled the world.
It was Messi, however, who was the focal point of that side. He scored goals – lots of them. He made goals too, whether with his shadow runs or dropping deep or providing the final pass.
However, when it looked like Barcelona’s domination might end, there came the MSN era – Messi, Suarez and Neymar. Alongside Luis Suarez and Neymar, Messi formed a fearsome trio who scored goals for fun.
But in this team, Messi played as more of a creator. He still scored plenty of goals but was now more content to play as a number 10. This was down to both him losing a yard of pace and also due to the presence of the other two, who would take up similar central positions.
Nowadays, Messi plays as a hybrid of those two players. He creates as many chances as he scores and is worth two players – a combined number 9 and 10, in one body.
That, perhaps, is the secret to Messi’s greatness. His eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo might sometimes have a better goal output – but that is down to the fact that the modern-day Ronaldo is a goal-scorer over everything else.
Messi is not only expected to score the goals, but create them too. A normal player would buckle under that workload. But Messi is no ordinary player, is he?
It says a lot that Messi’s goal output has declined in recent years, yet he is still outscoring almost everyone. And that perhaps is the reason why he achieved the greatness he did at Barcelona.
A ‘declining’ Messi was still able to fire them to Copa del Rey glory. A player seen as ‘past it’ by detractors finally won a trophy with Argentina.
What’s more, it isn’t down to him hiding behind teammates. Messi’s mazy run and solo goal in the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao was extraordinary, yet many shrugged.
In the Copa America, he scored or assisted every goal Argentina scored barring the winner in the final. At 34 years old, no less. Again, it was met with indifference.
The curse of Messi is that fans are now used to the extraordinary from him. He, in turn, delivers the goods every single week. And yet he is dragged down because of that.
Of course, Barcelona fans saw it all along. When his feud with former president Josep Maria Bartomeu went nuclear and saw Messi actually ask to leave, most fans sided with Messi.
It helps, of course, that Bartomeu was so massively unlikeable thanks to him ruining the club’s finances. But even a more popular figure might not have won this public battle.
Lionel Messi did. Because of course he did.
Barcelona’s financial crisis meant the club were always approaching this season as a rebuild of sorts. Players were signed – almost all on a free.
Efforts were and are being made to shift the heavy earners off the books to lighten the load. And, under president Joan Laporta, a renewed focus is being placed on La Masia.
But all of this was supposed to happen with Messi around. Now, thanks to circumstances beyond the control of the club or the player, that won’t be the case.
Messi will undoubtedly make more football memories where he ends up next. He will win more trophies, score more goals and end his career with more success.
But it isn’t the same. Barcelona and Messi have always been hand in hand. And ironically, in a club that prides itself for prioritising the team over any player, they now mourn the loss of the greatest individual to come through their famed academy.
Barcelona might be ‘more than a club’. But Messi is so much more than a player. To say the club will miss him is an understatement.
