I still think Messi is underrated!

He’s less explosive and he’s not as fast as he was a few years ago, but the speed at which his brain functions keeps Lionel Messi head and shoulders above the rest. After winning a record fifth European Golden Boot last season, the phenomenon from Rosario is en route to winning the accolade for a sixth time as he continues to prove that the ball was only ever meant to leave his cunning leftfoot for the back of the net. Soccer Laduma’s Kurt Buckerfield caught up with Sid Lowe, Spanish journalist, author of ‘Fear and Loathing in La Liga’ and a regular contributor to many of the world’s leading football publications, to chat about the incredible season the FC Barcelona captain is having, whether he gets enough acclaim for his hard work off the field and whether surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal tally at club level will finally put to an end to the biggest debate in sport.

Kurt Buckerfield: We’re seven months into the season, and surprise, surprise, Messi has scored more league goals than anyone else across Europe’s top five leagues. Considering he’s 32 soon, does this surprise you at all? Does anything he does surprise you anymore?

Sid Lowe: I don’t know if ‘surprise’ is really the right word with Messi. And I think there is a risk that he’d made the ridiculous so routine, he’s made brilliance become so normalized that I think there is a risk of taking it all in our stride, and yet, what he’s done is extraordinary, what he continues to do is extraordinary. I think the most interesting thing about him isn’t actually the goals he scores, it’s the evolution of his game, it’s the total control of matches, the sense that he is kind of almost playing on a different level to everyone else. So obviously, as you say, you look at him scoring more league goals than anyone else and he’s almost 32, and, in a way, it does surprise us because you feel like that should tail off, that his role should become slightly different. Obviously over time it may well do, and I don’t know… I do wonder if at some stage we’re going to see him play almost a Xavi role in a much deeper position, but yeah, it’s the continuity that makes it so extraordinary rather than the goals themselves.

KB: Messi is always spoken about as a natural talent, as someone who perhaps didn’t have to work as hard as his peers. As much as that might be true to a certain extent, does he not deserve more credit for the way in which he’s looked after himself off the field?

SL: Yeah, I absolutely agree! While he is a natural talent, while he is someone who clearly was born like this, that does sometimes allow us or drive us towards a mindset that doesn’t give him the credit for the work that’s being done, and how consistent he’s been and that’s about work, not just about talent. It’s about the diet, about training, about the improvement in certain elements in his game. There’s no doubt, for example, his free-kick taking has improved, as well as the understanding of the game. So, I think that’s a fair point. I think there probably is a sense of him not getting enough credit for that, but to be honest with you, I think he doesn’t get enough credit for anything! Though it sounds ridiculous to say this of a player who most people I think would say is the best player in the world, or at least one of the best two with Cristiano Ronaldo, I still think he’s underrated. I think still there is sometimes a failure to appreciate the depth of his brilliance, the depth of his achievements, the amount that he’s done. Obviously, what’s happened with Argentina kind of contributes to that, but I think it’s a bit more than that.

KB: What did you make of Messi finishing fifth in last year’s Ballon d’Or ranking?

SL: I think the whole thing boils down really to what it is you think the Ballon d’Or is measuring. I think if you see it as a Player of the Year award, you can justify certain years in which Messi doesn’t win it. I think in a World Cup year that dominates, I think Champions League dominates, I think what happens domestically basically gets overlooked. So, I think that explains it really. I don’t think this is necessarily an award for who is the best player in the world, so much as who has been or who has had the best season. I think those are slightly different things. “I think he would be the best No. 4 in the world, the best No. 8 in the world.”

KB: Is there still an overreliance on Messi at Barca? He was rested against Levante in the first leg of the Copa, they lost. He starts the second leg, they win 3-0. He was on the bench against Leganes with the score at 1-1, he comes on and they win 3-1. He was rested at Sevilla, they lose 2-0, he starts the second leg and they win 6-1…

SL: Yes, absolutely. And there are times I think when he’s on the pitch and you see this… when teammates try and pass him the ball when they shouldn’t. I think we saw the emotional dependence of the Argentinian national team on him, but even Barcelona do that. And I don’t think it’s helpful. I don’t think it’s beneficial to him and I don’t think it’s beneficial for them. But, of course, when you have a player of his level, as good as that, then the basic plan ‘give Messi the ball’ tends to feel like quite a good plan, I think.

KB: Despite being two years younger, Messi trails Cristiano Ronaldo’s club career goal record (590) by just nine goals (581) and will likely surpass him. Will that put the ‘best ever’ debate to bed?

SL: No, I don’t think that Messi overtaking Ronaldo’s career total will put that kind of debate to bed, about being the best ever or the best over the last decade. I think the only thing that Messi can do that maybe would end that debate would be to win something with Argentina and for him to be the driving force of that team. Not just for Argentina to win, but for him to go to the final and score, for him to lead the team through a competition. Now, obviously in an ideal world that’s a World Cup, but it could be that a truly outstanding Copa America could do that as well. I don’t really think it’s about the goal totals with Ronaldo. KB: Does he get enough praise for his vision, passing and all-round creativity? He’s arguably one of the best passers of a ball the world has seen. SL: No, he doesn’t get enough praise for his vision, his passing, all- round creativity. But I think more than creativity, his ability to control a game, to dictate tempo of it a little bit, the speed of it, knowing when to speed up, when to slow down and when to make which pass. I think when you look at it, one of the things about Messi is, and I said this when Xavi was coming towards the end of his career, the search for the new Xavi or the best new Xavi would’ve been Messi, but the problem is that if Messi is Xavi, he can’t be Messi anymore. Well, he can be, but he will be a different type of Messi. I think this is a thing, I think Messi is the best right winger in the world, he’s the best No. 10 in the world, the best No. 9 in the world, I think he would probably be the best No. 11 in the world, I think he would be the best No. 4 in the world, the best No. 8 in the world. The question is: which one of those many, many types of Messis do you want? And I think sometimes we do run the risk of being driven by the statistics, driven by the goals, but I think that gives us a cloak of objectivity, it gives us almost another forced strength to our argument, like, “Look, there’s the goals. That’s all there is to it.” When we go for the measurable, when we go to the quantity, I think we sometimes overlook the quality, but actually the quality can be measured – the number of passes, the importance of those passes, the control of the game. But I think there is something deeper that goes beyond that as well.

KB: What do you think it is that continues to drive Messi? He’s won it all at Barcelona. What is the difference, say, between a talent like him and a talent like Ronaldinho, who probably spent just a few years in his prime?

SL: That’s quite an interesting question about what drives Messi. I honestly don’t know. I suppose maybe the desire to end having left no argument, maybe. Maybe that’s part of what drives him. Maybe he just really likes football, maybe he doesn’t feel complete without it, maybe he has a different mindset towards personal relationships, towards behaviour and stuff to Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho was very much all about the fun. I think Messi is much more serious about the game. I think while he makes it fun for other people, I’m not 100% sure he necessarily makes it fun for himself, but he clearly does love the game. I think he’s a competitor as well, but I don’t really know what it is that continues to drive him. And he really is relentless as well. I think we talk a lot about the drive of Ronaldo, but I think it’s true, and you mentioned it in one of the previous questions, that we don’t talk enough perhaps about Messi’s drive, which is clearly there as well.

KB: Of course, experience will improve a player, but is it safe to say Messi is more complete now than ever? How has there been no real decline?

SL: I personally think that Messi’s never had any decline. I think he may well be more of a complete player now than ever, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily experience that does that as a sense of importance does that… I don’t know. But I think… this is going to sound silly… I’ve never seen him play badly. I think Messi’s bad games are still better than most players’ good ones.