To watch Lionel Messi for Barcelona is like witnessing a conjurer work his magic. The ball under his spell, he flashes around the pitch, linking with teammates, leaving opponents for dead, scoring goals at will. He’s the best player in the world, and he plays like it.
But is club success enough to be called the best ever? Maradona won a World Cup; Pelé won three. Messi has none. No senior honours for Argentina. That failure threatens his legacy, and infuriates his countrymen.
Worse, for years, when Messi suited up for Argentina, his magic eluded him. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t Lionel Messi. A mere mortal, where Argentina expected a god. Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, headlines in local papers cursed him as “insignificant,” saying he “disappoints again in the Albiceleste uniform.” He simply wasn’t the player everyone knew he could be.
In the run-up to Brazil 2014, that’s all changed. The Messi that runs riot in Europe finally arrived in South America. Since 2014 qualifying began last November, Messi has 11 goals for his country, more than a third of his total tally for the senior national team.
To understand what’s changed, one must figure out what was wrong in the first place, something that eluded Argentine coaches for years. Some decried a lack of national pride from the man who left for Spain as a boy; others hinted at a fragile genius that withers outside its Barcelona incubator.
Previous managers—including Maradona himself—tried everything. They played Messi wide. They tried him as a No. 9—a role usually handed to big, powerful strikers. They tried to build a Barca in Buenos Aires. They failed.
What Messi does at Barcelona can’t be replicated because it’s bigger than Messi. Barca’s intricate tiki-taka style demands perfection, demands specific team-wide skill and fluidity often honed, as it was with Messi, from boyhood at Barcelona’s academy. The week or so at a time a national team spends together isn’t enough. Argentina is world class, but it isn’t Barcelona.
But Argentina’s new coach, Alejandro Sabella, has found a role for Messi: sitting behind the strikers in the No. 10 spot where Pele earned acclaim as the best player ever.
As Messi goes, so goes Argentina. Sitting atop CONMEBOL, the Albiceleste boasts perhaps the best attack in the world. Beyond Messi, there’s Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero and Carlos Tévez, and Real Madrid’s Ángel de María and Gonzalo Higuaín—the latter now South American qualifying’s joint top scorer. It’s an embarrassment of riches.
Their next test will be a big one—at home against Uruguay. Led by Luis Suárez, the rivals from across the River Plate are keen to usurp top spot in the confederation.
Unlike years before, Argentina can look to Messi to lift them in big matches. He’s developing a habit of doing just that: His hat trick in June demolished Brazil in a friendly; his stunning free kick last month finished off Argentina’s first home qualifying win over Paraguay in 39 years.
Meanwhile, the headlines have changed: “We Must Do More Than Just Pass to Messi” ran the quote from Argentine defender Fernando Gago in September. It’s the kind of thing you say about the best player ever.
This article originally appeared in Sportsnet Magazine.