“I was nine when we won the world cup in 1986 and I still remember exactly where I was for each of those seven matches. I remember who I hugged and with who I cried.I remember how I felt before each match and I remember how special it was to go to the streets to celebrate that there was no other nation better than us at football and that nobody was fit to tie Diego’s shoes laces … And now every time I see Messi play I feel I was nine again” said Goal.com Argentine football editor, Sebastian Garcia, which many of us would be privileged and fortunate to say when we are old to have watched Lionel Messi playing.

As a young boy growing in the ‘street’ of Lagos State, South-western Nigeria who was fervently following football in the late 90s, two names often rang a bell from football aficionados around me. But I never knew the significance of these great persons because I was still a little bit unconscious of happenings around me. With growth and development as well as educational improvement, I was able to know the reasons behind the colossal compliments given to these football talents. They were both celebrated for their excellent achievements in football, unstoppable dribbling ability, exceptional heading ability, pace and unimaginable goal – scoring records.
Even with plaudits given to Lionel Messi and his archenemy Cristiano Ronaldo, as the two most talented footballers now on earth, also comparison between the two with their high level of consistency every season, Lionel Messi’s enigmatic talent is always singled out and compared to the ones considered being the greatest in football history- Pele and Diego Maradona


So, to all football lovers who has profoundly found himself or herself in this generation should thank God for providing us Lionel Messi with this utopian and unprecedented football talent.

This is not to be regarded as his biography but rather a commendation of his achievements despite his young age. The 26 year old football giant. Born to poor Gorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia Maria Cuccittini, a part – time cleaner, even as they never knew a star was born. The little magician started football at age four for grandoli a local Club coached by his father before he moved to Newell’s old boys in his home town Rosario. He was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency in 1994 which his club, Newsell’s old boys could not afford. But the stunning talent of Lionel Messi was already known to the thenBarcelona sporting Director Carles Rexach, he and his father arranged a trial with Barcelona, with no paper around, the contract was written in a paper napkin. He moved to Catalonia and started football in Barcelona youth team, La Masia.

Lionel Messi could not easily adapt to new life in Spain probably due to change in environment and body changes to injections for his growth development.But his remarkable ability was still spotted among those he shared the pitch with, intriguingly He still does the things he did back in his days with Barcelona as a young team player. His spectacular way of finishing goals when he is one – on – one – with a goal keeper, his incredible and stylish way of lobbing the ball over goal keepers which he has demonstrated in matches as Arsenal fans could recall when he completed a 21 – minute hat trick with a chip over the onrushing Arsenal goal keeper Manuel Almunia in a champions league quarter final match 2009/2010 season in camp nou. The match finally ended 4 – 1 in favour of Barcelona and Messi scored a delightful goal at the second half, thus becoming the sixth player to have scored four goals in a single match in champions league.

Also Messi’s incredible ability to dribble past more than player was also noted as many real Madrid fans would remember the Argentine sensational moment of pure football when he dribbled four real Madrid players before touching the ball to beat Iker Cassilas easily, in a champions league semi-final match in 2011. These are few of his unusual talents

This distinct ability of him has drawn many comparisons to his countryman Diego Maradona, one of the greatest footballer ever in the history of football with the duo having the same style of playing. The comparison started when he was still in Newell’s boys in Rosario. They both have a diminutive stature which gives them lower centre of gravity providing stability and ability to avoid tackles when roughly marked. Diego Maradona himself declared Messi as his “successor”.

Messi’s talents could not hide itself, as it broke to the market of football after the world youth championship in Netherlands, he helped his country in winning the trophy. He won the golden ball award with six goals, also the best player of the tournament. Although, his stellar talent was already known to many clubs in Europe and clubs’ coaches were already aware of the threat, trouble and danger Messi could cause. Even the best of the best footballers in the world could sometimes find it difficult to perform up to their previous season for their clubs probably due to loss of form, but in the unknown planet of Lionel Messi, the opposite has been the case, he has been showing great consistency since the time he made his official debut for Barcelona first team under coach Frank Rijkaard on 16th November 2003 when he was just 16 years of age. On the 1st of May 2005, Messi scored his first senior goal for Barcelona, becoming the youngest ever to have scored for the club in a league match but was later broken by Bojan Krkic in September 2007 from Messi’s assist.

Since then Lionel Messi has been terrorizing defenders in Europe with unstoppable dribbles, Pace, even having a diminutive stature his heading ability is unusual, and above all, Messi’s scoring ability is incomparable.

In 2008, Pep Guardiola took over from Frank Rijkaard after the Dutch man was unable to win the league. He, Pep Guardiola who was more of technical than physical was able to see the scoring potential of Messi and converted him to a centre forward role, which he described as a “False nine” which is different than the traditional nine known as the “point man” who only depends on passes from midfielders and wingers before getting the back of the net. But in Leo Messi’s unprecedented “false nine” he wanders from midfield upwards, providing passes to the wingers and coming behind to finish it up. With this, Barcelona became unbeatable and Messi became unstoppable scoring 38, 47, 53, 73 and 60 goals in 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 respectively for Barcelona in all competitions and now on 5goals in two league matches for Barcelona in the new season, Messi is not just an integrator of chances, but also a creator of chances.

Messi superb hunger for goals has made him break virtually all football goal – scoring records.

He surpassed ceser Rodriguez’s highest goal scoring record in official matches with 232 goals for Barcelona when he scored a hat trick in a La Liga match against Granada in 2012, thus breaking the 57 – year – old Barcelona record set by the Spaniard in 1955 when he (Messi) was just 24 years of age. He holds the highest goal scorer in La liga in a single season in 2012 with 50 goals. He scored 73 goals in 2011/12 season in all competitions thus breaking Gerd Muller record set in 1972/73 season for Bayern Munich with just 67 goals.

His glorious hunt for goals made his Barcelona and national team mate Javier Mascherano described him as an “ASSASSIN” when he broke the 40 year – old record set by the German and Bayern Munich goal scorer, Gerd Muller in 1972. The German football legend and one of the most prolific striker in football history held the record of the most scored goals in a calendar year with 85 goals before it is now being surpassed by Lionel Messi when he scored a brace against real Betis in December 2012. The little magician finished the year with a remarkable 91 goals in a calendar year for both club and country. What a record!!!


Messi’s exceptional and staggering ability with moments of brilliance he often shows in every match convinced so many players and football addicts as even the Swedish and Paris Saint German – prolific striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in an interview with Euros sport in October 2012 was quoted saying “Messi had a fantastic season but he has not won that much and he has already won the ballon D’or three times. It depends whether you reward an individual or a collective work. Xavi is still playing at a high level, Andres Iniesta also had a great season, they won Euro (for Spain) while Messi has not won anything, just king’s cup, he has won it three times. It is now someone else’s turn to win it.” but the former Barcelona striker who was deprived of freedom in the frontline because of Lionel Messi new “false nine” position was still utterly convinced when Messi netted an unmatched 91goals for club and country in 2012. He (Ibrahimonic) in an interview with Beln Sport later said “Messi is the best player in the world, he deserves the Ballon D’or “I know he has won it several times but he deserves it. He plays like he is on play station. It’s unbelievable, people who say otherwise either don’t know anything about football or are just talking nonsense”.

He has broken a total of 124 records in football history. He is the first and only player to have won the most prestigious football award Ballon D’or, four times, in football history. Just to mention a few.

For goodness sake, I find it absolutely fair when football critics, lovers, players and coaches compare Lionel Messi with the one considered being the greatest ever in football history, talking about Diego Maradona, and Pele. Statistically, Lionel Messi has surpassed Diego Maradona’s success in football. He has surpassed his 311 goals for club in 592 games which Maradona scored in 21 seasons. Messi is currently on 318 goals in 454 matches for Barcelona in 9 seasons. Maradona scored 34 goals in 92 matches for Argentina while Messi is currently on 35goals goals in 82 matches.

But in rare planet of Pele, his goal scoring record is incredible. Scoring 1281 goals in 1363 matches (including friendly) for club and 77 goals in 92 matches for Brazil also in 21 seasons like Maradona. He won 3 world cups, 1 copa America, 6 Brazilian league titles and 2 copa libertaderes in 21 seasons. Maradona also won 1 tornado cup, 2 serie A’s, 1 UEFA cup, 1 copa del Rey also in 21 seasons. While Lionel Messi has won 3 UEFA champions league titles, 6 six La Liga, 2 copa del Rey, 5 super copa de Espana, 2 UEFA super cup, 2 world club cups, FIFA U – 20 world cup and a gold medal in Olympics.

Statistically, Lionel Messi is arguably the best out of these three great players. With Messi’s lack of success in world cup has been his commonest argument of not being the best ever. Pele did it three times with Brazil in 1956, 1962 and 1976 while Maradona also won with Argentina in 1986.

For my own young mind, international football does not depend on talent of an individual as Fernando Torres who was part of the players that won the major trophies for both club and country is not considered being the best of all time and George Weah who did not play in the world cup let alone of winning it is among the best player in football history.

Furthermore, Pele played in Brazil of 1956 to 1977 which can be compared to Spain of now in football and I cannot categorically say that he was the one carrying the team.
Also Messi is just 26 years of age, he is still very young so he still has many years to make amendment in the world cup. He can still probably go up to three to four world cup tournament before he retires. Besides, Messi has counter balanced the argument of not performing in the world cup by scoring at the most competitive club football competition in the world, UEFA champions league, even at the two finals he has played.

For, to paraphrase Half Robert, “hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy”. Apart from the incredible talent of Leo Messi, I vehemently believe him to be an industrious footballer as his goal scoring ability has developed into scoring remarkable free kicks as he demonstrated when the two clubs in the two largest cities in Spain- Barcelona and real Madrid met, scoring two free kicks at their two consecutive meetings in Bernabeu and camp nou at the beginning 2012/13 season. His transformation into scoring incredible free kicks would definitely be a result of constant training on playing free kicks. So Messi remarkable display in every match is not just a talent but also a result of his hard work. He also play every 90 minutes of Barcelona matches and interventions such as injury and fatigues are not in Messi’s dictionary of football.

So it did not come as a surprise to me when ESPN reported the inclusion of an adjective in Spanish dictionary to immortalize him. The word “inmessionante” which translates to the perfect way to play football, an unlimited ability to self improve, the word also describes the best player of all time. So Messi memories live to eternity.

So it is a privilege as a football lover being in this generation watching this stellar talent in action. Many were lucky to say something about Pele, some were also lucky to talk about Diego Maradona. So thank God for providing us Lionel Messi with this unparalleled and “inmssionante” football talent to talk about in the future.

For me, Lionel Messi is the best footballer I have ever seen and I believe he would probably stand first in the pantheon of football greats when history starts calling.
Ariyibi A. A
Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering,
University of Lagos.

undisputable champion.