MARTINEZ SAYS LEO IS DESPERATE FOR GLORY
Lisandro Martinez believes Lionel Messi still has the desire to fill the one hole in his trophy cabinet. And it might just be enough to end the greatest debate of all.
The Manchester United defender is training hard alongside Messi in
Qatar ahead of Argentina’s opening game against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
The diminutive playmaker has the tools to slice sides in two and make them simply disappear.
But that is not what Martinez, above, feels is his most outstanding characteristic, as the 35-year-old leads his nation into the tournament for arguably the last time.
Martinez said: “People see the Messi that scores the great goals, that he is a magician on the ball.
But if you have played with him you see how much he still has the desire to win. He has won nearly everything but he is still hungry in every training session and every game.
“It is hard to explain but he is a natural winner and that winning mentality is infectious. This World Cup will be no different – he is our leader – and we are ready to go into battle.” Cristiano Ronaldo has been doing his own talking ahead of the World Cup – mainly to Piers Morgan.
“Amazing player, is magic, top,” he said about the Argentina star. “So good. What I am going to say about Messi? A good guy who does everything for football?” It was a refreshing change from the vitriol he was busy pouring out over his United team-mates in the same interview and, with his club career at United in turmoil, international success is also the remaining driving force.
Neither he nor Messi have won a World Cup and at 37 and 35 this looks like being their last shot.
Moreover, unless either of them puts that right in Qatar, can either player genuinely be considered the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)?
Former Liverpool and Scotland legend Graeme Souness has a precise definition of “greatness” when it comes to teams. To be considered great you have to win the Champions League or old European Cup… twice. International opportunities are less frequent, but surely it is fair to say that for Messi or Ronaldo to have a reasonable claim to be the world’s greatest player, they have to have won the World Cup at least once?
Otherwise let’s leave the debate to the real champions – triple World Cup winner Pele; or Diego Maradona, a single-handed winner in 1986, with honourable mentions to Brazilian Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane.
Granted, Ronaldo has claimed major honours when he drove Portugal to win Euro 2016, but since that wink after Wayne Rooney’s red card in the infamous 2006 quarter-final, he has not won so much as a knockout game at the planet’s biggest jamboree.
Messi has come much closer – captaining the side to 113 minutes of a World Cup final stalemate against Germany in 2014 before losing out.
People see the magic, I see the desire to win