MESSI’S GENIUS UNDIMMED DESPITE ANFIELD CALAMITY
We Are not hearing so much from Mario Balotelli this week on the subject of the world’s greatest footballers. Previously, after the lionel Messi show during Barcelona’s 3-0 win over liverpool, Balotelli was keen to engage in the longrunning and futile debate around individual supremacy. ‘For the love of football, please do not compare Messi to the number seven of Juventus any more,’ he posted on instagram. But many did — and negatively. For, inexplicably, every time Messi is great it serves not just to highlight his genius but to diminish that of cristiano ronaldo. it is an argument as wrong-headed as using Portugal’s euro 2016 victory to decry Messi and his failure to win a major tournament with Argentina. Both men are wonderful footballers. That they are also so different in style and personality should heighten our appreciation, not make us choose sides. John Peel once said that naming a favourite record or group is like selecting a favourite limb. So it is with Messi and ronaldo. Why choose? The calamity that befell Messi and his team at Anfield on Tuesday should not detract from his genius. it was a single match, a single performance, and it still took all of liverpool’s might to contain him. Messi remained far and away Barcelona’s finest player, even in defeat. Best, then, to leave him out of the recriminations and hope that what unfolded might tease a little respect for the much maligned ‘number seven of Juventus’ from Balotelli and his fellow travellers. Messi, for all his talent, could not drag a fading Barcelona team to european success, yet that is exactly what ronaldo did for three years straight before leaving real Madrid. look at them now. A little appreciation is due, surely? it has been a privilege to witness the achievements of two extraordinary talents but why not leave it there? We may as well decide there must be a preference for liverpool or Tottenham’s comebacks this week. can’t we delight in both? Football is meant to be fun, not