Want to give the world its ultimate football fantasy? You know what to do, Lionel
LIONEL MESSI has received plenty of well-intended careers advice since faxing Barcelona to inform them of his desire to leave, much of it from these shores.
It has ranged from the plausible – Manchester City and a reunion with Pep Guardiola – to the pleasingly preposterous – Scarborough Athletic for a taste of the Northern League Premier Division.
It costs nothing to dream and every supporter fantasises of seeing Messi at their club, but sorry to have to break the news – just because Rihanna has split up from her man does not mean she is about to fall into your arms.
If fantasy is the name of the game, there is only one destination the little Argentinian wonder should head for – Juventus and a dressing room peg next to that of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Arguably the greatest footballer ever and the second greatest in the same team.What a way to bring down the curtain on the careers of two gods of the game who have spent a decade wrestling over the
Ballon d’Or. One last joint mission, one last
Champions League – only this time together. How about that for a last dance?
For Andrea Pirlo, the new Juventus manager in his first senior job, it would be like finding the company car was a Bugatti with a Lamborghini as back-up.
Would it work? Would they be Turin’s Broad and Anderson? For all their talent, there are no guarantees. Putting geniuses together in the same team can backfire. American captain Hal Sutton thought it was a masterstroke pairing Tiger Woods with Phil Mickelson at the 2004 Ryder Cup. Turned out it was matter and antimatter on the same tee. They lost both their matches. The double act of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren swept all before them for the best part of two seasons in Formula One before the hatred between the two led Prost to run Senna off the road at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The degree of enmity between Messi and Ronaldo is on nothing like the same scale but they are not close. Last year Ronaldo claimed their relationship was a positive one but he would not class them as friends.
Both are so used to being the sun around which the planets orbit that to share the same space could be difficult.
Messi, for all his dazzle with the ball at his feet, is a natural introvert but in Ronaldo there is a vast and potentially destabilising ego at play. Whether he could cope with the arrival of an even greater force would be debatable.
Even when the biggest names rub along well, combining them does not always work. Andy Murray and Serena Williams’ megawatt mixed doubles partnership only made it to Wimbledon’s third round last year.
Messi and Ronaldo could simply be incompatible in the same team but imagine they did hit it off. They could always just take it in turns with the free-kicks.
Messi’s finesse and footwork; Ronaldo’s power and poise – harmonised, it would make for football from another planet. Opposing defenders would need counselling.
It would be an unexpected privilege to host Messi in England for a season or two. The Premier League might even have some substance to the best league in the world claims if the best player of all time was in it.
But Messi and Ronaldo together? Tell me you wouldn’t turn over from Crystal Palace v Burnley to watch that.