Lionel Messi Is So Good, He’s Compared to Supernatural Beings and “A Playstation”

↵How many soccer players do you think the average American sports fan would know by name? Beckham? Zidane? Ronaldinho? Maybe Rooney? Ronaldo? I’d bet that most American sports fans – not soccer fans, but general sports fans – would hear Ronaldo and think of the chubby Brazilian and not the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year. Or they think both Ronaldos are from Brazil. Heck, even Deadspin had a post last month about Cristiano Ronaldo and used the hashtag #brazil until it was changed after the fact.↵

↵↵The point is, while even casual soccer fans in America know all the international stars – the Kakas and Drogbas and David Villas and Xavis (actually half the Spanish national team) – that will garner the most attention this summer during the World Cup, the average American sports fan is still, inexplicably, left in the dark when it comes to soccer.↵

↵↵And that’s what makes Lionel Messi so much fun. He’s not just the best player in the world, but he’s making everyone in the world – and that’s starting to include the average American sports fan – take notice every time he plays. How can one not pay attention when he’s putting on a show like he did against Arsenal on Tuesday, scoring all four of Barcelona’s goals in a 4-1 victory in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals? ↵

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↵↵Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said after the match:↵

↵↵⇥“He’s a Playstation. I think he can take advantage of every mistake we make. Today I think we played quite well. We had regrets…”↵↵I’m fairly certain Wenger’s comment was a bit lost in translation, and he meant that Messi was like an unstoppable player

a video game – this generation’s Bo Jackson – more than an

video game console.
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And to those regrets he referenced, I’d think that one regret is letting Messi get the ball in space. Actually, his first and fourth goals were created without much space, as Messi ended up playing pinball with the Arsenal defense on both tallies. But David Pleat of The Guardian thinks that a player of Messi’s talent should receive the soccer equivalent of the “box and one” treatment.↵↵⇥Comparisons across generations are always difficult but Di Stefano, Cruyff, Best, Pele and Maradona would all have admired Lionel Messi’s brilliance last night. It was tempting, however, to wonder whether things might have been different had Arsène Wenger been able to call on a man-marker. Unfortunately for the Arsenal manager he did not have the tools to do the job and Messi came short, went wide and ran beyond. He found crazy freedom.↵⇥↵⇥Arsenal needed a midfield stopper. Maybe Messi’s outstanding talent would have made a mockery of such a player. Perhaps. But by allowing the best footballer in the world to find space Arsenal were blown away. In modern football the man-to-man marker is a dying breed as teams have collectively become so well organised defensively. But it is possible to sacrifice one of your own players to take an opponent out of the game and accept a nine versus nine outfield situation.↵⇥

↵↵Could you imagine getting that assignment in the locker room? “Hey, Denilson, you’re going to be chasing Messi around all day. Enjoy.” Oh, and let’s make sure to point out that while the defense was clearly keying on him, Messi still scored his first three goals in just 19 minutes.
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↵The Spanish papers, translated in the UK’s

consider Messi to be other worldly:
↵↵⇥“Last night Lionel Messi went beyond what any human could possibly conceive. He showed art, magic, desire, emotion, fun and ferocity – all the while retaining the taste and mood of football.”
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↵⇥“Last night the Nou Camp witnessed another great work of Messi. A supernatural being who becomes more indescribable with every game.”
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↵⇥“The challenge for the Barcelona player now is not a day-to-day challenge, nor after the Champions League, or the league or with Cristiano Ronaldo. His challenge is with history, with Pele and with Maradona.
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↵⇥“Messi - have you seen him? In 50 years everyone will still be talking about him.”↵↵↵Just to put Messi’s season in context, here are a few notes taken from Barca’s website:↵

↵↵⇥- First four goal haul: Tuesday was the first time Messi had bagged four goals in a single game for the club - mind you, before that he had scored 5 hat tricks and 18 times scored twice in a game. ↵⇥↵⇥- One of six: Messi is the sixth player in [Champions League] competition’s history to bag four in a game, following on from Van Basten (AC Milan), Simone Inzaghi (Lazio), Prso (Mònaco), Van Nistelroy (M. United) and Shevchenko (AC Milan) and becoming the first Barca player to do so. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥- Leading scorer in the Champions League: after those four goals, Leo is now the competition’s leading scorer this season - as he is in Spain where he’s chalked up 26 league goals so far. ↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥- Record breaking season: Messi has now scored 39 goals this season – one more than he managed all last season – and he has done that in just 42 games, eight less than he figured in last season.↵⇥

↵↵Maybe teams should try the triangle and two.↵