Lionel Messi has cemented his place among the very best to have ever graced the football pitch. The diminutive Argentine has won all that there is to win with his club, sadly the same cannot be said with country, and has done so with a smile on his face and and with an unrelenting panache.
8 league titles, 5 Ballon d’Ors, 4 Champions Leagues and many more trophies later not only is Messi one of the most decorated footballers of all-time but also one who is unequivocally loved by one and all.
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It is not just his dribbling skills or his nose to sniff out a goal from nothing that makes him one of the most revered footballers of all time but the explanation lies deeper and a closer look at his life tells you why exactly he is loved, like he is…
Here are 5 reasons why we – football fans and not just Barcelona fans – love Lionel Messi:
Overcoming obstacles since his childhood
Growing in the streets of Rosario, Argentina, Messi was undoubtedly supremely gifted and everyone realised that since the moment he touched a football. However, he just didn’t become the superstar he is by being supremely gifted he had to overcome countless obstacles, the biggest of which was the growth hormone deficiency that he suffered from.
At a tender age Leo was diagnosed to have been suffering from a growth hormone deficiency which not only put his footballing career in jeopardy but also threatened to shunt his physical development. The only recourse that he had was to resort to externally providing his body the hormones that it required and he had to do so by injecting himself with a dose directly into his legs every day.
The cost of the treatment was way too much for his hometown club Newell’s Old Boys and after a certain point of time they refused to fund it. Left with no other option, Messi’s father – Jorge – had to look for help in foreign shores and he found it from Barcelona. A 13-year-old Messi moved to Barcelona to undergo his physical development where he would continue his growth as a footballer.
Despite the growth hormone injections Messi could only reach a height of 1.7 metres, relatively small for a footballer. However, this proved to be both a bane and a boon. While his short stature prevented him from asserting his physical dominance on the field, allowing more athletic players to bully him off the field. Forced to develop his game according to his height, Messi worked on his close control of the ball and on the skills required to get out of tight spots making his height disadvantage work in his favour.
He didn’t just become one of the all time greats, he sacrificed, he pierced himself and had to put in hard yards and the rest as they say… is history.
Messi is a DOG
Before jumping to any conclusions or before abusing me, hear me out.
Calling Messi a Dog is not a derogatory remark but rather a compliment. In a popular YouTube video uploaded by Argentine writer Hernan Casciari, Messi has been compared to a Dog. Casciari’s reasons for comparing the diminutive Argentine to a canine had the best of reasons at heart.
The reason behind this is, Messi has a single, most definitive agenda of focussing on the ball while on the field and nothing else. He just wants the ball and he wants to do the things that he so often loves to do. He is not stopped by tackles flying in, not perturbed by opponents pulling his shirt, or hell even players trying to wipe him out.
He doesn’t tend to go down under a challenge, in the off chance that he is swept off his feet he gets up quickly and goes on doing his business. He never dives, his intention is never to get his opponent sent off, it is always to do what he loves so dearly – play football.
Here is the video, which is a must watch and don’t forget to have your headphones on, you ought to listen what he is saying…
His loyalty for club and country
Messi spent his childhood playing for Newell’s Old Boys and was part of a team that earned a nickname – ‘The Machine of ‘87’. The team were almost unbeatable and had a propensity to score numerous goals per game.
Leo only moved from his boyhood club as they were unable to cover the costs of his treatment. Even then, Messi has vowed to one day return to the Rosario based club, probably towards the fag end of his career, such is his love for that club.
Even after breaking through the ranks at Barcelona and establishing himself as one of the best in the world, there was never a shortage of suitors for the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner. However, despite all the interests from various European giants, the controversies involving his tax issue and those pertaining to the hierarchy of the club, Messi endured and stuck by them.
At 29, he currently has only one year left on his contract with the Camp Nou outfit and once again, there is no shortage of suitors but it can be said with some degree of conviction that he will renew and extend his stay at Camp Nou.
When Messi was just beginning to make a name for himself as a 16-year-old, the Royal Spanish Football Federation were keen to rope him for the Spanish Under-17 side but Messi – an Argentine at heart – declined the offer stating that he only wants to represent his native country. And so he did, only five days after his 17th birthday in an 8-0 rout of Paraguay, where he scored one and assisted another two. Once again highlighting his loyalty…
Messi is pure genius and makes those around him better
Messi is a genius in the truest sense of the word. The things he does on the football field has never been showcased before and probably never will be repeated after.
The slight drop of the shoulder to get rid of his marker, or that cheeky nutmeg to get past his opponent are just some of the many things that the Argentine so frequently does.
However, apart from being a genius, it is his ability to make those around him look better that truly makes him the phenomenon that he is.
Luis Suarez and Neymar are exceptionally good footballers in their own right but it is Messi that makes the trio unstoppable. Not only these two, many of those before Suarez and Neymar have come and gone but they always had Messi to make things relatively easy for them, for when you have Messi in your team the opponent’s main focus is to stop him and then the team.
Not only does having the 29-year-old in your team make the job easier, it opens up more spaces for other members of the team to have a telling impact on the game.But, the biggest impact that he has on those around him, is he forces them to raise their game to match his own. The Barcelona players don’t want to let the best player in the world down and they try – to their best of their abilities – to perform at a level similar to that of the Argentine, maybe they don’t have the same impact but they do have the same intensity.
His ability to make people fall in love with football
"Don't write about him, don't try to describe him. Just watch him." - Pep Guardiola
The former FC Barcelona had once famously uttered these words and it is probably the best way to summarize the phenomenon that is Lionel Messi.
He didn’t get to the level where he is today by just scoring goals, or by leaving opponents flat footed laying in his wake, or by beating an entire team to score a wonder goal. He did it by making those watching fall in love with the beautiful game.
It is his ability to make someone who doesn’t even know football fall in love with the game, be it a 5-year-old in England, or a 65-year-old in some ancient part of the world. When Messi steps on the football field, he doesn’t do so to subdue his opponents, he does so to enchant the world. And that is something not many footballers can claim to do…
