After a dazzling performance for Barcelona during the Champions League quarter-finals, footballer Lionel Messi is fast-gaining a reputation as the world’s best football player.
Messi single-handedly put the defending champion into the Champions League semifinals after scoring all of his team’s goals in a 4-1 victory over Arsenal in a quarterfinal second leg on Tuesday. Barcelona progressed 6-3 on aggregate and will play Inter Milan in the last four.
The Argentina forward is on 39 goals for the campaign, topping last season’s total by one, and will have 50 in his sights.
Lionel Messi, European and World footballer of the year continues to prove he is a one man wrecking crew, I personally thought he was the best player I’d seen since the days of his national teams coach – Diego Maradona who proved to be a nightmare to oppositions on Club and national level.
Messi is proving to be equal to he’s national coach with his recent run — he scored two hat-tricks in three games last month — has also made him the favorite to be crowned world player of the year, the award he was given last season.
What make this Messi performance even more impressive was that it came against Arsenal, one of Europe’s premiere team. This performance was so great that Arsenal’s players could be forgiven for wanting to stand back and take in the performance as the 22-year-old forward cemented his standing as a great in world football.
Messi’s performance has even united Spanish football fans only three days before Barcelona and Real Madrid play each other, with the league title hanging in the balance.
I have complete respect for he’s talent, but just like he’s hero and national coach Maradona, I believe he is great because of what they’ve been able to put around him in Barcelona, he is the world’s best player because he has a team that is suited to his skills and because he reads the game perfectly.
I said in my article World Cup Group B Breakdown I said “The Argentine team no doubt is still the best team in this group having Messi arguably the best player on the planet, but with all their troubles the June 12 Argentina vs. Nigeria game in Johannesburg will set the tone for this group. Look for Nigeria to win that game” (Click here to read the article)
Messi was on the troubled Argentine team that managed to squeeze their way into South Africa and he has not been able to show this brilliance on the national stage and the reason is because unlike the talent around him in Barcelona, he lacks the same on he’s national side.
So why his talent can’t be question I still don’t see him being this brilliant come June. (Sorry guys, am just in the World Cup Spirit already)
That said, I truly enjoyed the performance and will be looking forward to seeing more of this lightning in a box this weekend against Real Madrid.
