'Lionel Messi's best is yet to come'

Posted Tuesday, August 30, 2011 by timesofindia.indiatimes.com

KOLKATA: "Isn't Messi the greatest footballer ever?" That's the question that's playing on the lips every football fan today. As they gasp for breath in the exhilarating wake of another dazzling display by the current Agentina No. 10, it is less a query and more a statement. Their delirious reactions draw quizzical eyebrows from an older generation. "Is he bigger than Maradona?" they counter indulgently. "Can he ever be!" is their disdainful rhetoric.

Once upon a time, Pele versus Maradona, complete with the whiff of the famous Brazil-Argentina rivalry, had long entrenched itself as the sport's eternal divide. But that was before Lionel Messi butted in to capture the consciousness of an entire generation which gets to see his magic live as a global audience on TV, and for whom much of the legends of Pele and Maradona arrive only in sepia.

It's this sort of nudge that could make the day for any 'adda' - the passionate, never-ending debate sessions over countless cups of coffee or tea in any corner of this football-mad city. At our Times office here, there were those that could delve deep beneath the surface and even pepper it all with personal experiences but, in the true spirit of an 'adda', consensus and unanimity were as elusive as Messi is while on a weaving run.

What an glittering adda it was. Subhas Bhowmick, Philippe de Ridder, Debjit Ghosh, Dipendu Biswas, Kalyan Chaubey, Chima Okorie, Devang Gandhi, Deep Dasgupta and Ranadeb Bose made for an interesting mix and, as the afternoon wore on, no one was in any doubt that they each had a mind of their own.

"Maradona is a player who can change the game by himself while Messi, a great player no doubt, still needs other players to play with him and around him. Maradona can just take the ball and create the difference," De Ridder, the soft-spoken Belgian coach who had been at the East Bengal helm not too long ago, was definite in his choice.

There was immediate endorsement from lanky defender Debjit, who opened with "Messi still has some way to go" and then pointed to Maradona's achievement on the world stage. "If we consider success, Messi still can't compare with him though both have so much in common when it comes to their game. If a player doesn't have success on stages like the World Cup and Copa America, he will always suffer in comparison. That's an important yardstick all over the world," maintained Debjit.

"In 1986, with only a few top class players like (Jorge) Burruchaga, (goalkeeper Nery) Pumpido and (Jorge) Valdano around, Maradona had Argentina finish as champions. In 1990, apart from Burruchaga and Oscar Ruggeri, there was (Claudio) Caniggia upfront, (Sergio) Goycochea in goal and not much else but his team was still in the final.

"When a player can have his team playing two World Cup finals under such circumstances, that success is phenomenal. Messi doesn't have that. He has shown that he can be stopped if you remove Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets. Let him become Man of the Tournament at a World Cup or Copa and I will put him in the same bracket," Debjit added.

Chaubey nodded in agreement, adding: "People attach more importance to feats at World Cup because nationalism is stronger and more broad-based than club allegiance."

When Chima described Maradona as the "one-man army", Messi's cause looked all lost.

Bhowmick, who was silent this while, jumped to the rescue. "In 1982, Maradona wasn't quite the player he would become. He was 26 in 1986, and statistics show that as about the age footballers peak. (Zinedine) Zidane excelled at 27, Ronaldo at 26-plus. Even Pele, who won three World Cups and played his first at the age of 17, would say that his best came in 1970, when he was 27-plus. Messi is 24 and I would wait for the 2014 World Cup before passing judgement," said the coach known for his keen assessment of players.

While most agreed that Messi has more to offer, the discussion drifted to how best he could get there. With everyone having already pointed to the one big difference in the soccer upbringing of the two Argentine superstars, the cocooned career of Messi at his club FC Barcelona, a contrast to the club-hopping of his idol, Bengal cricketer Ranadeb Bose posed a most telling question. "Should Messi cut that umbilical cord with the club he has flourished with to challenge himself and lift his game further?" he asked.

"Why should he? Why should he change something that continues to work for him?" countered Bhowmick, but De Ridder thought the cricketer had a point.

"Everyone, how good they may be, wants to improve and removing oneself from the 'comfort zone' can often bring about quicker improvement. It may not be a bad idea for Messi to move out of Barca for that extra exposure," the Belgian coach offered.

Chima made a belated entry into the discussion. "Don't worry, Barca will sell him some day if it's good for the club finances. Messi is a professional footballer and he has to perform wherever he goes," said the much-travelled former footballer.

While acknowledging Messi's immense individuality, Dipendu and Choubey could relate to the Argentine honing his talent at the Barca academy. "The system and the disciple plays a big role in grooming of players," said Dipendu, recounting the benefit from his days at the Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur.

Everyone nodded in agreement but Bhowmick had something to add. "You need a guru. Pele had Britto." Bhowmick differed with Debjit when he said that the 1986 team had quality in abundance while Messi has very little around him when he turns out in national colours. "Just as he does for Barca, Messi essayed some terrific passes during the Copa America but those that they were meant for were not up to the task," he said, before finding a flaw in the way Argentina have actually moulded their game.