This past decade, fans of soccer have been blessed. We have been witness to one of the greatest sports miracles of all time, Lionel Messi. The man is a genius; his exceptional dribbling, fantastic bursts of pace, and quick improvisation are all a testament to the claim that he is the greatest soccer player of all time. Both the statistics and expert opinion support it as well. This season, he has been incredible, leading both the La Liga (Spanish Domestic League) and the Champions League in goals scored.
It is Barcelona tradition that their “first captain” gives a speech at the beginning of their season. This year, for the first time, the tradition fell on Messi; most viewers were expecting the usual formalities from the speech. Maybe he would wish the team luck for the following campaign, maybe he would congratulate a particular player, or maybe he would thank the manager for his hard work. Even then, he defied all expectations. He vowed to bring the Champions League home to Camp Nou after three disappointing away leg defeats in the last three years. He swore to bring the elusive trophy home, the one that had stumped Barcelona for the past four years.
Fast forward ten months to the Liverpool-Manchester match. After an early Suarez goal, the game had clearly shifted into Liverpool’s favor. But Messi extended Barcelona’s lead to 2-0; minutes later, he scored one of the most perfectly placed goals of the season, right when Barcelona needed him most. But in the dying embers of the game, when Messi found Dembélé in the box, Dembélé promptly wasted the shot. Perhaps this moment of the campaign defined Messi’s predicament: Messi can be inhuman, but his teammates are painfully mortal, letting him down when he needs them most. Nowhere else is this better exemplified than during the second leg of the match, when Liverpool battered them to the ground. Barcelona threw away a 3-0 lead going into the second leg and lost 4-0. Anguished, Messi walked into the dressing room, wondering what went wrong. What could he have done better?
The answer? Nothing.
It is this painful divide between Messi and his lackluster teammates that frustrates all of us fans: Messi does so much for them, so why don’t they reciprocate the favor? His teammates, Suarez, Coutinho, Dembélé, Rakitic, Pique, are individual stars in their own right, but in the second leg against Liverpool, all were absolute disappointments. Instead of hunting for their chances, they depended on and waited for Messi “magic,” which never materialized.
What hurts most is that this season for Messi will go down as a failure, despite all of the goals and assists he produced. Messi, just like everybody else, is judged almost entirely on the major trophies he wins, not on the number of goals he scores. His failure to win a World Cup in 2014 will go down in history as a personal and professional failure for him, even though his teammates had many chances to win the game. It is in the grandest moments that Messi feels most confined; his teammates are unable to produce the magic when he falls short.
At the end of every calendar year, the Ballon d’Or is awarded to the best player of the calendar year. This year, when voters decide on their winner, it is my sincere hope that they do not factor in the countless failures of Messi’s teammates, but remember Messi’s sheer brilliance that even allowed his team to advance thus far. The individual accolade is the least he deserves.