adminGary Lineker in DOHA, Qatar
LIONEL Messi’s World Cup story is over and I know things are going to be a lot less enjoyable without him.
His performances in Qatar have cemented his place in the hearts of football fans around the world.
There was a beautiful moment after Argentina’s win over Croatia in the semi-finals, where a reporter told Messi that he has made his mark on everyone’s life, and that is more important than the result against France and winning his first World Cup.
She was absolutely right.
People always go on at me about how much I talk about Messi but I make no apologies for that, and I never will, because watching him has given me so much joy – nearly two decades of absolute delight in fact.
He is 35 now, and we haven’t got much longer of him left, so let’s savour every second. I’ve said many times that I consider him the greatest player to have ever played the game, and I’ve never put that solely down to his scoring statistics, as staggering as they are – it’s because of his vi-sion, his awareness, and his decision-making.
It really does seem like he plays as if he is viewing the game from above at the same time, but even that doesn’t really do full justice to his genius.
Every time he has played at this World Cup, the crowd cannot take their eyes off him – as soon as he got the ball, the whole stadium collectively held its breath.
They stood up and waited for his magic, and always delivered.
There have been so many jaw-dropping moments, like his brilliant dribble and precision pass to set up a goal against the Dutch, or the perfect first touch and strike to score against Mexico, which turned Argentina’s fortunes in this tournament around.
Then there was his incredible assist for Julian Alvarez in the semi-final, when he turned Josko Gvardiol inside out and left him utterly bewildered in his wake.
You are left thinking ‘wow’ and wondering how Messi can do that to one of the strongest and quickest defenders in the world but even then he is still thinking about what comes next and picks out Alvarez, and instead you are working out how on earth he saw him.
Messi has shown for many years now that he is a truly extraordinary player, but I think even from just watching him at this tournament, you would realise he is special, and better than anyone else in the modern game.
When we make comparisons like that, we sometimes get a little bit caught up just with goal-scoring, which is great for me because it makes me appear a better player than I was.
If that was the criteria then I’d be a little bit better than Diego Maradona, which is obviously absurd because he practically played a different sport.
It is the same with the Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo debate now. Their numbers are fairly similar, goals-wise, but I would argue Messi has the greater ‘wow’ factor.
Ronaldo has it too, when he scores a great goal, and Kylian Mbappe is the same with his explosive bursts of pace but neither of them can do the things Messi can.
Messi will beat four or five men in a tiny space and just pass it just five yards, or see a pass no-one else does and deliver that with the perfect weight.
He has done all of that at this tournament, just as he’s done it during his whole career.
It’s remarkable that the two greatest players of all time – well, of my time – are both from the same country, both left footed, both small – and they both dribble and do all these kinds of incredible things.
It is always difficult to compare players from different generations because the game changes so much – for example Maradona was kicked constantly, and he played on some awful pitches too.
Online Reporter