James V Combey🇸🇱💓

This is a classic example of someone taking isolated events from a player's career, removing their context and constructing an entirely different narrative to suit an agenda. The argument that Messi can only thrive when everyone around him surrenders their individuality is historically inaccurate. Let's start with Barcelona. The 2008/09 team had Eto'o, Henry, Xavi, Iniesta, Dani Alves, Yaya Touré, Puyol and several other world-class footballers. Guardiola developed a system that maximised Messi's qualities. That didn't make the others inferior or turn them into Messi's servants. Eto'o remained a prolific striker. Henry was an elite attacker. Xavi and Iniesta controlled games. They were all important to that team's success. Then came Villa and Alexis Sánchez. Villa's Barcelona career was significantly disrupted by a serious injury, while Sánchez scored 21 goals in his final season before joining Arsenal. Suggesting they faded because they couldn't accept Messi's supremacy is rewriting history. Now, the MSN argument is even more ridiculous. In 2014/15, Messi scored 58 goals, Neymar scored 39 and Suárez scored 25. In 2015/16, Suárez scored 59, Neymar scored 31 and Messi scored 41. Three superstars. Three different attacking responsibilities. One extraordinarily successful team. Suárez played centrally, Neymar operated from the left and Messi frequently operated from the right. They complemented one another. Neymar even scored in the Champions League final. Where exactly is the evidence that these players had to surrender their individuality? Let's move to PSG. Yes, Messi had a difficult first season. Yes, Mbappé was the more prolific goalscorer. Nobody needs to deny that. But Messi recorded 16 goals and 16 assists in 32 Ligue 1 appearances in 2022/23. That's 32 goal contributions in 32 matches. He wasn't the same type of player as Mbappé, and comparing their goals alone doesn't explain their respective contributions. His PSG contract ended in 2023. He subsequently chose Inter Miami. Saying he was chased away because he couldn't compete with Mbappé is an interpretation, not an established fact. Then comes Argentina. Apparently, playing alongside Higuaín, Agüero, Riquelme and Verón made Messi ineffective. Yet Argentina reached the 2014 World Cup final, where Messi won the Golden Ball after scoring four goals. They also reached the 2015 and 2016 Copa América finals. Were those teams unsuccessful in winning those tournaments? Yes. But blaming imaginary dressing-room power struggles is not an explanation. And the Scaloni argument is perhaps the most disrespectful. Argentina's 2022 World Cup squad had Di María, Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández, De Paul, Mac Allister, Emiliano Martínez and Otamendi. These were not ten footballers waiting for instructions on how to worship Messi. They were footballers with their own qualities, responsibilities and contributions. Scaloni built a collective structure in which those qualities complemented one another. Messi was the team's most influential player, but that doesn't make everybody else irrelevant. Messi scored seven goals, provided three assists and won the World Cup Golden Ball. He scored in every round of the competition. That's not a player whose success can be explained by teammates worshipping him. And here's the fundamental problem with this entire argument: The author confuses tactical accommodation with personal subordination. Every great team has a tactical focal point. Building a system around your best player doesn't mean everyone else has to abandon their individuality. Messi has demonstrated that he can score, create, dribble, dictate tempo, break defensive lines and control attacking phases. Those are individual footballing qualities, not privileges granted by teammates. You can rank Pelé, Maradona or Ronaldo above Messi. That's your opinion.

Sometimes, I sit down and genuinely wonder what kind of footballer Lionel Messi is. Someone once described him as a spiritual leader of football. Honestly, even that sounds like an understatement. Do you understand what it means to be so good at a sport that opponents have to rethink how they play it simply because you exist? Messi wasn't just another player coaches prepared their teams to face. Sometimes, he was the problem around which the entire tactical plan was built. Look at José Mourinho's Inter in 2010. Mourinho explained how his defensive structure was organised around preventing Messi from receiving the ball comfortably. Zanetti, Cambiasso and Motta had specific responsibilities depending on where Messi moved. They called it a Gabbia (a cage). Think about that for a moment. It wasn't simply eleven players defending against Barcelona. It was an entire defensive structure designed to deny one man the freedom to play his football. And that wasn't an isolated incident. Coaches had to account for his movements, anticipate his decisions, adjust their marking assignments and find ways to close spaces before he could exploit them. Messi became a tactical problem that required tactical solutions. And when you couldn't always explain what he was doing with ordinary football language, people started looking for other explanations. FIFA this. Referees that. Favourite of the system. Protected player. Everything except acknowledging that sometimes, the simplest explanation is that you're watching an extraordinary footballer. Did FIFA invent his left foot? Did FIFA teach him to see passes other players couldn't imagine? Did FIFA score those free kicks, produce those assists, dribble past those defenders or create those chances? Football has always had controversial decisions. Messi has benefited from some, suffered from others, just like other great players. But you cannot use individual controversies to erase two decades of footballing excellence. And perhaps the most fascinating thing about Messi is that he has managed to evolve without losing the essence of what makes him special. At 19, he was a different kind of nightmare. The acceleration, the explosive dribbling, the ability to leave defenders behind as though they were standing still. At 39, the acceleration isn't what it used to be. But watch him play. The intelligence, the disguise in his passing, the little one-twos, the awareness of space, the ability to manipulate an opponent's movement before releasing the ball. He has lost some speed, but he hasn't lost the ability to make football move at his pace. He went from outrunning defenders to outthinking entire defensive structures. And this is where Greek mythology almost becomes necessary to describe him. In Greek mythology, Athena represented wisdom and strategic intelligence, while Hermes represented speed and agility. Messi's career almost feels like a story of both. The young Messi carried the qualities of Hermes. The older Messi increasingly resembles Athena: seeing the game several moves ahead, understanding spaces, manipulating situations and finding solutions before opponents realise there is a problem. He is a footballing paradox: a player who once conquered defenders with his legs and now continues to conquer them with his mind. At the 2026 World Cup, at 39, he reached another final with Argentina. And in the 2026 Ballon d'Or rankings, he finished fifth, surrounded by players representing the next generation of football. Let that sink in. A man who has already given football almost everything is still competing among the names expected to define its future. I don't think we appreciate the magnitude of that enough. And that's why I sometimes wish people would stop turning every Messi discussion into an argument about who is better, who has more goals, who has more trophies or who received what award. There is a bigger conversation here.👇