SIMPLY THE BEST

Argentina’s Lionel Messi doesn’t need to win a World Cup to prove he’s the world’s top soccer player. To us, he’s ...

I’ve experienced Cristiano Ronaldo at two major tournaments.

I was in Salvador, Brazil, four years ago when Ronaldo’s Portugal was drubbed by Germany.

I was in Manaus a week later when Portugal drew the United States.

Two years later, I sat 50 metres from the Real Madrid star in both Paris and Lyon, where Ronaldo carried Portugal to a European Championship.

I’ve seen far more of Ronaldo (in person) than the man he’s compared to: Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

I’ll be there, in awe, when the best players of a generation compete in Moscow this month.

And I’ll be at the Luzhniki Stadium on July 15 for the final.

Whether or not Messi is there could end a decades-old conversation that’s dragged on far longer than it’s need to.

Does Messi need to win a World Cup to cement his legacy? Does he need to win an international competition — like Ronaldo — to be enshrined as the best in the world?

I find it ridiculous that such labels hinge on finals — as if getting to four major title games isn’t enough. The heartbreak of squandering a penalty in the 2016 Copa America ultimately led to Messi’s international retirement. Some said he’d forever be in Diego Maradona’s shadow.

But Messi’s greatness is about more than winning one-off games. It’s about carrying an entire nation. It’s about repeatedly stepping up in big moments.

Argentina wouldn’t be in Russia had Messi’s teammates not coaxed him out of retirement. The Barcelona star came back to score three game-winning goals through Argentina’s final seven qualifiers. What’s more, Messi registered a hat trick in a come-from-behind road win in Ecuador on the final day of qualifying. Without that performance, Argentina would have missed its first finals since 1970.

Would Portugal have missed the World Cup without Ronaldo?

I think the defending European champs would have survived UEFA’s weak Group B without their best player.

But what Messi did during this qualifying campaign, what he’s done for more than a decade with La Albiceleste, against superior CONMEBOL competition, hasn’t received the attention it deserves from European media. It certainly hasn’t received the respect it deserves from those who lean toward Ronaldo being the greatest.

“This is what the great, great players do,” one English commentator said in describing the night Messi saved his country from the brink of elimination.

Why should Messi’s immortality, his “best ever” label, hinge on whether Gonzalo Higuain scores in a World Cup final? The Argentine striker should have buried that chance four years ago in Rio de Janeiro. We wouldn’t be discussing this.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be discussing it anyway.

Messi doesn’t need to lift an international trophy to cement his legacy. He’s the best footballer I’ve ever seen.

And I’ve enjoyed watching plenty of the other guy.

In the opinion of soccer columnist Kurtis Larson, Argentina superstar Lionel Messi has already cemented his legacy as the best soccer player of his generation. A World Cup win would just be gravy.