Seeing a player like Lionel Messi makes you happy you lived when you did.
Only once a generation does a player come along who can dazzle the world the way he does.
The Baby Boomers had Pele.
Generation X had Diego Maradona.
And now, in light of his five goals against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, Lionel Messi is again being talked up as the greatest player of all time.
But what makes Messi the greatest? At 24, is it already fair to call this mesmerizing striker the best in a sport with over a century of history?
Certainly he has the skills. I saw Lionel Messi play at Camp Nou in a 2011 league game against RCD Espanyol. Messi didn’t score, but the forward’s speed made you believe he could stop time and maneouvre around his defenders.
Seriously, just watching the man’s legs move was an exercise in averting dizziness. From watching videos now, it’s difficult to believe that Pele and Maradona could run faster in their prime.
And then there’s the immaculate goals.
One that comes to mind is Messi’s header in the 2009 Champions League final against Manchester United. In that game he took a long pass from Xavi outside the box and headed it past goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar to make it 2-0 in the 70th minute.
Messi’s performance against Bayer Leverkusen is being talked up as a reason why he’s a candidate for best player of all time. I’m among the few arguing that, despite his five goals, the game wasn’t the greatest showcase of his talents.
Goalkeeper Bernd Leno hardly seemed to try in the second half and Messi’s fifth goal, at least, seemed to be scored less out of effort than sheer boredom with the game.
But there have, of course, been countless others.
So we know why Lionel Messi should be considered the best player of all time. He’s fast, he’s skilled, he manoeuvres the ball like he shares a symbiotic relationship with an inflatable rubber object.
Why shouldn’t he?
Most who offer a dissenting opinion believe that Messi can’t be considered the greatest because he hasn’t yet won a World Cup. World Cup wins have been important in anointing players like Pele and Maradona the best of all time.
But are they still fair criteria for judging a player’s greatness?
Certainly, Messi’s World Cup appearances leave something to be desired. He failed to score a goal in the 2010 event as Argentina fell out of contention in the Quarter-Final, losing 4-0 to Germany.
But the Champions League has rapidly become the gold standard for determining success in football, and there, Messi is a legend.
Beyond his five goals scored in this week’s game, in the 2010-2011 Champions League he scored 12 goals in 13 appearances, eclipsing his next-nearest rival by four goals.
In the final against Manchester United, he broke a 1-1 tie with a strike from 20 yards out in the 54th minute.
In the 2009-2010 competition, when Barcelona fell to Inter Milan in the semi-final, he scored eight goals in seven appearances. In the 2008-2009 competition, when he essentially won the final for his team, he scored nine goals in 12 appearances.
Pele and Maradona’s totals in the UEFA Champions League, a competition that literally pits the best in world football in head-to-head combat?
Well, Pele never played outside of Brazil. His country kept him home by naming him a national treasure. And Diego Maradona, despite seeing success with Napoli and Barcelona in the 1980’s, never won what was then known as the European Cup.
Now the World Cup is a majestic competition, pitting the best national teams in the world against each other.
But Europe is where the best players play, and Messi is tops among them. Most soccer players spend their entire careers wanting to play for titans like Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and, yes, Barcelona. You just don’t get the aura of a superstar anywhere else that you get in Europe these days.
Of the three consensus best players of all time, only two have seen success in Europe, and one has succeeded the most.
I’m not ready to anoint any one player the best of all time based on championships alone. But I think the debate on the greatest ought to go further than his World Cup wins.
