‘Messi needs to be a World Cup winner before Argentinians see him as a legend like Maradona’
HIS nine La Liga titles, four Champions League wins, five European Golden Shoes and five Ballons d’Or have already confirmed Lionel Messi as one of the all-time greats of world football.
But in Argentina, his chances of being named ‘the greatest of all-time’ depend on whether he can add a World Cup winners’ medal to his incredible achievements with Barcelona.
Back in his homeland, the 30-year-old superstar continues to be defined by the one trophy that has eluded him.
Messi made his World Cup bow as an 18-year-old in Germany in 2006, scoring after just 14 minutes of his introduction in a 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro.
But in the last 16, he was left powerless on the bench as Argentina went out on penalties to the hosts.
Four years later, Messi played every minute in South Africa until his team were again knocked out by the Germans — destroyed 4-0 in the last eight.
Then, in Brazil in 2014, Argentina went all the way to the final but fell in extra-time against — yes, you guessed it — Germany.
Argentina then lost successive Copa America finals to Chile in 2015 and 2016. Messi missed a penalty in the 2016 shoot-out and opted to retire from the international scene.
He reversed his decision six months later and it was his hat-trick against Ecuador last October that finally clinched stuttering Argentina’s passage to Russia.
Yet despite being his country’s top scorer of all-time with 64 goals in 124 caps, there are many who feel Messi will never emerge from the shadow of the great Diego Armando Maradona unless he skippers La Albiceleste to World Cup glory in Russia.
Maradona — virtually singlehandedly — dragged a distinctly modest Argentina team to the summit of world football in Mexico in 1986, including two iconic goals against England en route to a 3-2 win over West Germany in the final. Rivaldo, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002 and a runner-up four years earlier in France, believes Messi needs victory in Russia to complete his footballing legacy. ‘Messi is already a legend for everything he has done at Barcelona and for football,’ said 46-year-old Rivaldo, who won the Ballon d’Or in his pomp with Barca in 1999. ‘But Argentina as a country had Maradona really as their biggest star who won the World Cup. ‘So maybe for Argentinians, Messi isn’t at the same level of legend because, for the supporters of a country, it doesn’t matter what you have done for your club. ‘Messi has won so many titles with Barcelona, the Champions League many times and La Liga. ‘This is important for the fans of the club, but, for the Argentinian people, it is important to win the World Cup. ‘Of course, you can understand that because of all the football competitions, the World Cup is the most important and it is the top prize.
‘If you haven’t won that trophy, then people may perceive that you need to do so. I think that until Messi wins the World Cup, Argentinians won’t consider him as a legend at the same level as Maradona.
‘He may not be a legend for all Argentinian people, but, for football as a whole, he is already a legend.’
A World Cup winner in 2006, Italy’s Andrea Pirlo also believes Messi will fall short without triumphing in Russia.
‘It will be important for both Messi himself and for Argentina to win this World Cup,’ said Pirlo.
‘Messi is always compared to Maradona, but he needs to win the World Cup because, if you don’t win the World Cup, you cannot be up there with the very best players.’
Likewise, the World Cup has always eluded Messi’s great rival, Cristiano Ronaldo.
In 2006, Portugal finished fourth in Germany. Then, four years later in South Africa, they were knocked out in the last 16 by eventual winners Spain.
Despite becoming the first Portuguese player to score at three World Cups, Ronaldo and his team-mates were eliminated at the group stage in Brazil 2014.
However, unlike Messi, the Real Madrid striker has sampled international glory when he captained Portugal to win Euro 2016 in France.
Ronaldo may have limped off injured early in the 1-0 final win over the hosts, but he more than played his part in Portugal’s run to their first-ever major international trophy.
Being crowned kings of the continent ended the debate about whether Portugal’s greatest-ever player was Ronaldo or the legendary Eusebio.
Only two players in history — Iran’s Ali Daei and Hungary and Spain’s Ferenc Puskas — have scored more international goals than Ronaldo’s 81.
But just three of his goals have come in a World Cup and he dreams of completing the set of honours in Russia.
‘Winning the World Cup is the best thing you can possibly achieve in your career because you represent your country and it is so difficult to win,’ said Ronaldo.
‘So if we could do it, then, for me, it would be the maximum. To give a World Cup to Portugal would be the greatest dream of my life and mean that I would have won everything a player can aspire to win.’
With his five Champions League wins and five Ballons d’Or, Ronaldo has joined Messi in dominating modern football. But by the time the next World Cup kicks off in Qatar in 2022, Messi will be 35 and Ronaldo will be 37.
Russia, then, surely represents a final chance to win international football’s most glittering prize.
Can one of these two great showmen do that and finally write their names into World Cup folklore the way 1986 belongs to Maradona, 1970 to Pele and 1998 to Zidane?
For Messi and Ronaldo, the stage is set, their audience is waiting and the clock is ticking. It’s now or never.