Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Messi’s wizardry sparkled the brightest

It is an overblown, backslapping sideshow; a ceremony that swoons over superstars of a team sport, acknowledging solo efforts that occurred over two halves, of two different seasons.

Argentina's Lionel Messi. Photo: KEYSTONE via AP

Argentina's Lionel Messi. Photo: KEYSTONE via AP

It is an overblown, backslapping sideshow; a ceremony that swoons over superstars of a team sport, acknowledging solo efforts that occurred over two halves, of two different seasons.

There is so much about FIFA’s lavish Ballon d’Or Gala that does not float my boat.

Yet there is never a bad time to celebrate authentic genius. So we should at least be thankful that this year they crowned the right man.

Between November 2014 and 2015 (do not ask me why FIFA picked that period), no footballer came close to eclipsing Lionel Messi’s contributions for Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Luis Suarez were all superb in almost every respect, but it was Messi’s scampering wizardry that sparkled brightest.

He thoroughly deserves his unprecedented fifth gong because whenever it mattered most, Messi always conjured up magic that the others have yet to learn. It was over as a fair contest the moment his shimmy left Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng on the seat of his pants in last season’s Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou. The delicious dink over Manuel Neuer that followed, with his “weaker” right foot, completed one of his finest ever pieces of footballing artwork.

I was transfixed. Pause. Rewind. Play. Rewind. Play again. How did he do that? With the answer unknown, even in slow motion, I just chuckled along in admiration. Jaw-droppingly good, it was the kind of precociousness we shall miss so terribly when this dreamy Messi-Ronaldo era has come and gone.

There were other golden memories too. His twinkle-toed impudence in both legs of Barca’s last-16 tie against Manchester City was just as brilliant. Like a cat with a mouse that knows its race is run, he toyed with Manuel Pellegrini’s men, prior to the kill.

He was involved in all six of Argentina’s goals in the 6-1 Copa America semi-final rout of Paraguay too. Laying on three assists, it was a man-of-the-match performance of unselfish class.

His sense of occasion helped Barca land another La Liga title as well, as he scored the only goal at Atletico Madrid to seal it, the 54th of a campaign that saw him net 11 times in the last nine nerve-trembling matches of the run-in. In the Copa del Rey final, in 11.4 wondrous seconds, Barca’s crown jewel also scored one of the greatest goals of the century.

Weaving his way past four Athletic Bilbao defenders on a mesmeric 50m run, Messi then fizzed a rocket past the goalkeeper at the near post to seal another trophy success. Experts later calculated that had his shot been 1.5mm towards the left or right, he would not have scored. Fine margins are clearly his thing.

Whenever Luis Enrique needed his genial No 10 to deliver, he did so.

There are those who will argue Suarez and Neymar are just as deserving of the prize, given they contributed plenty of their own magnificence en route to Barcelona’s five-trophy haul. With a fairly equal share of the 180 goals they scored in 2015, it is perhaps unfair to put one superstar above any other.

Yet it is obvious that Messi, who claimed 41.3 per cent of the vote, still stands apart from his peers. Even when you put aside his relentless brilliance as a passer, a dribbler and a creator, he has averaged 53 goals in his last seven campaigns.

My only query is this: How did 58.7 per cent of the votes not place Messi as No 1?

Football is a team game, and that is how it should always be perceived, but he was the greatest individual by far.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.