First a counterfactual: we are deep into extra time of the World Cup Final. The referee is about to blow for penalties any second. France’s Randal Kolo Muani is put through on goal. Since coming on as a substitute, Kolo Muani — who made the squad only owing to Christopher Nkunku’s nth hour withdrawal — has had a searing impact on the game. Argentina’s goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, rushes out of his line. But having done so, he doesn’t seek to fall at the ball. Instead, he stands his ground, making himself as big as he can. This gives Kolo Muani one of two options: he must find a way to try and chip Martinez, which given the goalkeeper’s height can be a daunting prospect, or he must try and find a way to slot the finish past the keeper. The forward opts for the latter choice. This is a decision made in an instant. It is hard to find fault with him. But as he slams the ball to Martinez’s left, he finds that the keeper has spread his wings as widely as he can, and the ball ricochets off his left leg and the goal — and with it the World Cup — is saved.
Now, imagine if Kolo Muani had dared to choose the first option and chipped the ball in successfully. Or imagine if he had played the second option differently, choosing to go straight down the middle, which might have seen the ball wind up under Martinez’s body and into the back of the net. France would have been crowned world champions and we might have been pondering over different takes on Lionel Messi’s legacy, his place in the pantheon. Would he still have won the golden ball ahead of Kylian Mbappe? Would his brilliant first-half efforts have proved inconsequential in the tedious debate over the status of his greatness?
That this counterfactual — wholly plausible — did not materialise means that Messi has now met his destiny. But what’s telling is the roles that his teammates have played in this triumph. In the final alone, Angel di Maria, who so often turns up for the big occasion, Alexis Mac Allister, who was relatively unheralded until he began turning up fine performances this season for Brighton and Hove Albion in England, and the hard-as-nails Tottenham centre back Cristian Romero each played seminal parts, not to mention the goalkeeper Martinez. Argentina’s coach Lionel Scaloni tweaked his system for each of the matches in Qatar, but every change was made by answering a single question: how do we get the best out of Messi? To that end, Argentina moved from a 4-4-2, to a 3-5-2, to a lopsided 4-4-1-1 and in the final to a 4-3-3. In all these systems, Messi’s role remained largely constant. There were others who’d do the running for him on defensive transitions, allowing him to take charge of the ball and dictate the play, when Argentina had possession of the ball. That Messi made Argentina tick is obvious; that they’d have stood little to no chance of winning the World Cup without Messi is also obvious. But equally, Messi needed his teammates to play a certain way, he needed a certain quality of partners for him to be at his best.
The idea, therefore, that Messi’s place as the “greatest of all time” — the “GOAT” — depended on this World Cup is nonsense. Equally, the idea that we can compare players across generations, players who play as part of different set-ups and somehow value their relative merits to decide who amongst them is the greatest of all is also nonsense. After all, Diego Maradona produced the most virtuoso display that has ever been seen at a World Cup finals when he dragged Argentina to victory in match after match in 1986. Pele didn’t’ have the chance to play in the European Cup. George Best’s country Northern Ireland never qualified for a World Cup finals.
This isn’t to say that Messi’s greatness can be underestimated. In his position — and there are a few that he’s played in over the course of his career, as an inverted winger, as a number 9, a false 9, and now in a freer playmaking role — he’s close to peerless. He has given football fans infinite joy. To watch him in the flesh is to see the sublime unfold before our eyes. We must celebrate his excellence. But indulging in silly debates over relative positions of greatness is an exercise sans logic. It also devalues what remains a team sport. Let us, by all means, hail Messi, but let us also celebrate Argentina.
(Also at: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/is-lionel-messi-really-the-greatest-of-all-time/article66287812.ece)