The race to vilify Lionel Messi

Barcelona went on to lose the match as Messi along with Neymar -- benched to begin the game-- came on during the second half, though neither managed to score. What followed apparently was a bust-up between manager and star player, a confrontation that allegedly had to be stopped by Neymar before it came to blows. Messi would miss the next day of training and a visit to a children’s hospital under the guise of having gastroenteritis.

Whatever you choose to believe, whether Messi and Enrique had a heated confrontation or that Messi actually was sick, the evidence indicate that the Argentine was highly upset by his benching and showed it --the cameras focused at him on the bench revealed as much. This is not the first incident --there were reports of similar incidents with Pep Guardiola and Tata Martino-- and it certainly won’t be the last.

This altercation and the small event of Messi inferring that he may not finish his career at Barcelona has been like a stream of blood from a capsized boater to a school of piranhas. It’s as if the great mob has finally found the swamp of the ogre, once thought mythical, and now are happy to point at the reality and say “There! Look at how ugly it is!” Though in this situation, there is no hideous creature to scare away children. All that exists before the world is a human being and the fact that he is just like everyone else, that he’s not faultless, is apparently Messi’s crime.

As we know, you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. For the past few years, there has seemed to be a hanging verdict over Messi’s head. A sword of Damocles that came closer to falling after every poor performance, any moment of anger or lack of interest in general. Look at how silly it is now to consider that much of the media spent an incredible amount of time focused on how much Messi ran during matches in order to pinpoint his disinterest. Or that him kicking the ball out of anger during El Clasico was enough for some to label him as petulant.

The silly truth is that Messi’s behavior is so common among elite athletes that it’s frankly boring: Ronaldo himself had his own bust-ups and disagreements with Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson. SAF himself had fiery confrontations with everyone from Roy Keane to the British Adonis, David Beckham. Guti openly refused to listen and insulted Manuel Pellegrini during a match. The Chelsea old-guard practically ran Andre Villas-Boas out of town.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, during his time at Milan, laughed in Max Allegri’s face because he didn’t feel that the manager was intelligent. Paul Scholes refused to board a team bus for a league cup game because he was left out against Liverpool the previous weekend. Even the angelic Mesut Ozil had staredowns with Jose Mourinho. Any player that you identify has probably had his moments of arrogance, petulance and anger. It is normal. Anyone who has been on an organized sports team will tell you that it is even more commonplace than the general population realizes.

It seems that Messi is not allowed that distinction, though. It’s the darkest side of idolization. He was elevated to such a high pedestal of morality because of his meek nature that it was always going to be a long fall once frustration set in. He’s fallen from grace, though he never asked for the blessing in the first place. That’s where the main problem resides. Dehumanization is of two extremes --belittling or idolizing someone. With each one, you strip the person of their nature as human beings and the allowance to share in the flaws and triumphs as a complex creature.

The same meek Messi who couldn’t look Thierry Henry in the eye when he first walked into the Barcelona locker room is the same Messi who asked to play in the middle over Zlatan. The same diminutive playmaker who allegedly drank Coke on the plane in protest of Guardiola is the same one who wept his heart out after a Champions League loss. Human beings are not one-dimensional and it’s unfair and unreasonable to ask him to be.

Another aspect of it is that his own genius became his hindrance, through no fault of his own. It seems a recurring theme of fans to want to pull down stars after a certain amount of time. It’s the insecurity of self, and because of Messi’s elite talent --and this happens with almost every famous person-- people feel as if they have to drag him down to the base level in order to humble or humanize him. Look at him! He gets angry and argues with his superiors! He is nothing special.

And because of Messi’s silent nature when it comes to making the news, people start to fill his silences with their own thoughts and conspiracies, which gives birth to streams of stories about his behavior. If he doesn’t denounce them, then they must be true, it seems. It even happens to his counterpart. Not long ago there was a story that Ronaldo called Messi a “motherfucker” in private and ostracizes anyone who talks to his perceived enemy. A story that began to grow legs till the Portuguese had to come out and rebuke the reports as fallacious.

The biggest difference between the two is that Ronaldo is more of an extrovert. He has no qualms about squashing stories publicly. He was also demonized in his younger days, especially at Manchester United, but he’s much more expressive. Which is OK, people deal with situations differently.

The zeal of those who came to witness the burning of Messi’s angel persona was outright embarrassing. It speaks of an inability to view players as fluid creatures that fall victim to the same emotions as the rest of us.

It’s a continuation of the same egregious notion of these players as robots, and Messi, the ultimate robot, has been revealed as just a man in a protective suit -- Homer Simpson or Tony Stark reference, whichever suits you. It’s as if everyone is surprised that arguably the best player of our generation has an enormous ego.

What athlete doesn’t? Further than that, who in the world that is top one percent in their respective profession, doesn’t? It’s an asinine thought that they don’t or shouldn’t. Egos just manifest themselves in different ways. Some are quietly and privately egotistic, others are more boastful and proud in public. Because humans are complex and react differently to the same stimuli.

The carnivorous mob was bound to devour Messi eventually. His guard was always going to come down; age has a way of revealing the persons behind the mask. Messi is not the first that it’s happened to and he definitely won’t be the last to be raised up by the people and then torn down when they see his position, the same one they pushed him to, as demeaning. It will be just as silly reflectively in the future as it is now.