Last night I had the pleasure of sitting down and watching Barcelona systematically dismantle Real Zaragoza in probably the first performance of the season where they truly looked the same side who swept their way to a mesmeric treble last season.
During the match, the commentators drifted towards the subject of Lionel Messi and the recent criticism of his efforts in the shirt of struggling Argentina. The criticism was a somewhat harsh one, suggesting that as the best player in a struggling team, Messi ought to impart more influence on the game. At this point I must defend Sky’s commentator’s, neither of whom seemed to subscribe to what is a ridiculous and narrow minded interpretation of Messi as a footballer.
Messi does not dominate football matches. He is simply to physically unintimidating to do so and any manager who ignorantly devises a system which requires Messi to be the playmaker can only achieve so much. I cannot claim to have watched enough of Argentina over the course of their unspectacular qualifying campaign but from what I managed to catch Maradona appeared to have naively decided that the more Messi has the ball, the better Argentina will play.
Barcelona can extract the best of Messi because they do not rely on him. The central figures in Pep Guardiola’s system are those based more centrally, usually Xavi, Iniesta and Ibrahimovic, which allows Messi to play a free role, cutting in from the right or collecting the ball in the centre and running at defenders. He is far from a peripheral figure but his best moments are explosive, bursts of frightening genius which change the momentum of attacks.
I sat for a while trying to rustle up a decent comparison for Messi in the footballing world. I stumbled on a couple of obvious ones, Gianfranco Zola (though how much that was actually to do with stature I’m not sure), Ronaldinho and Dennis Bergkamp (not the same type of player but the short bursts of brilliance amongst much malaise was similar) were my first picks but it was a Rugby player whom I felt rung the most bells.
Shane Williams plays Rugby in much the same way that Messi plays football. The outgoing IRB world player of the year is likewise diminutive and shares Messi’s ability to inject pace into game with a few silky steps. They are also both deceptively strong and thrive when legs are tiring and the match becomes stretched. Above all, they are two of the few remaining poets in sports increasingly dominated by lawyers and accountants, artists among listless artisans and central to the very reason we love sport; for its beauty, spontaneity and all encompassing embrace. Stay clear ofthe melee boys, you’re fine as you are.
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