It was 14 December 2000 when a 13 year old boy left his hometown of Rosario, Argentina for the first time. After two years of being diagnosed with a rare growth hormone disorder, his family decided to cross the Atlantic and send their prodigal child to 'La Masia'- Football Club Barcelona's youth academy. What ordinarily followed thereafter was treatment of the child under world's best medical professionals. But what extra-ordinary, perhaps most blissful thing came out from this "opportunity in crisis" was a phenomenon named Lionel Andrés Messi.
Just three years after his arrival, Messi made his debut for the F.C Barcelona first team. And in no time Camp Nou transformed from being the home stadium for this club to Mecca of pilgrims thronging to witness 'Messi magic' every weekend. To try and justify or compare Messi's legacy in the sport by means of numbers or statistics would be an unforgivable sacrilege. It is about transcending every possible imagination in our pursuit to seek greatness and glory. To redefine and re-engineer our capabilities in this mortal life. To gather courage and cling on to hope even during the darkest hours. And to disrupt the old order for something even more beautiful and happy. Messi did (and does) all of these with such ease that now it no longer feels supernatural. And the best part is that he did all of these with just a ball at his feet.
On the pitch, even the opposition defenders, goalkeepers and coaches would just stand still in pure awe and admiration of the art in display. While playing on the right flank, he dribbles past multiple defenders and nestles the ball in top left corner with his famous left foot just outside the 18 yard box. Everyone on the pitch and stadium knows this exact drill yet it's like the Divine act which has no force of counter. Other times he would time his shot to such perfection as if the wall of defenders split open like the Red Sea in Biblical narrative of The Exodus. The control of ball and meticulous poise epitomises the skill and vision which have propelled him to unique bracket of geniuses in the history of mankind. To the place where we can find the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Beethoven, or the modern-day greats like Muhammad Ali, The Beatles, and the rest.
Just like the Biblical context aforementioned, and the story of people above, the road to immortalisation was anything but easy. The criticism to fail an entire nation and other billion admirers when it came to winning an international trophy stood out as the chief blame. But the reverence hitherto accorded to him wasn't farce. It was proven in the Copa America of 2021, La Finalissima in the same year, and the FIFA World Cup of 2022 that despite being a team sport of 22 when there's one man who pull the strings, others don't feel bad about coming second-best. And he did exactly that by being the best player of tournament in all of these competitions along with winning the golden boot and silver boot in Copa America and World Cup respectively. Before lifting the world cup trophy on 18th December 2022, Messi had already amassed unprecedented 7 Ballon D'ors (and now 8 as of 30 October 2023), unprecedented 2 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, unprecedented 2 Copa America Best Player awards, most player of the match in UEFA Champions League, and other zillion accolades which needs separate discussion altogether.
But things were not this easy as it appears. Having lost three consecutive finals between 2014 and 2016, at the peak of his illustrious career, he was the convenient scapegoat. Despite "carrying" his team through his entire playing career, armchair critics never failed to highlight the irony between his club football achievements and national team's. And what fun without ironies in our life. The World Cup victory for Argentina came in his fifth attempt, yet the first time away from the love of his life F.C Barcelona. He achieved this seemingly implausible feat by defeating France while being on the payroll of that Nation's top football club team. Also, the country couldn't win another World Cup in the lifetime of great Diego Maradona, another revered figured in the religion of football.
And so when the progeny flips over the football archives of Messi era, they would find more than just a phase in sport. Many shall discover the surreal connection between a footballer and emotions of million others. His followers would smile whenever Messi scored, go bonkers whenever he produced passes out of impossible angles, cry whenever he appeared helpless, comfort each other whenever he cried, and most importantly keep faith in their team till he broke his last sweat on the field. Perhaps it was written in the stars, as if prophesying a new 'Messi'ah from Rosario to make this world a little more better than it already is.
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