The Champions League Quarter Final matches have been drawn and Inter has marched on to defend the title on 28th May. But what’s more enthralling is not the fact that the team has done well or has been doing well. Because Barcelona, one of the strongest contenders has got arguably the best playmakers in Xavi and Iniesta to help their indomitable forwards. For a team that has won 19 La Liga titles and 3 Champions League titles, it is so much an understatement to call it a great club with former players that boast of names like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Cruijff, Stoichkov, Quini, Ronaldinho, Rodriguez, Maradona, Romario, and very recently, Samuel Eto’o. Most of these have been record breakers and holders for the club and some of them have featured into the Hall of Fame of Football. All of them have one thing in common – extraordinary football skill. However, the greatest player of the game right now some say is better than Maradona himself. Another Argentinian is single-handedly threatening to rewrite the history books with his virtuoso performance match after match. Lionel Messi has done it all that legends and greats of every football playing nation have. The only man who is numero uno in the global scene has truly moved much ahead of strikers Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo.
The Nou Camp rumbles to incredible cheer and liveliness when this 22 yr old genius enthralls them with his supreme skill and rocket paced movement on the football pitch. The golden boy of football is known for his ability to tear apart rival teams with his guile and craft of dribbling the football. He has confessed to be a selfish player and likes to finish the game and what is so remarkable is his ability to do so every time he wishes to. Christiano Ronaldo had done it all for Manchester United and is doing considerably well for Real Madrid now. But has he ever been mentioned by opposition coaches as the best player to lose to. Christiano’s ability in driving the team towards the goal is commendable and he eventually finishes the game with his fine feathery touches. But what Leo Messi does is much beyond what words can express. As Coach Guardiola rightly said, he finds it astonishing and even beyond his imagination capacity to see Leo play the game and said he has run out of superlatives to describe his star striker. Wayne Rooney on the other side of the game is finding it hard to lay low as he is becoming the best English player of the season, challenging Leo Messi and C. Ronaldo for the title of Best Footballer of the Year yet again.
Right from the arrival of Messi in the game of football, experts touted him to be an exceptional talent and Maradona went on saying that if there is anyone who deserves to wear the No. 10 for Argentina, it was Messi. Even by the outrageous standards of his game, Leo Messi has it to unnerve the very best of back-lines with his searing burst of pace and with his diminutive structure so easily passable, scores numbers of goals that compels rival team coaches to admit that their teams actually lost to a team that had the magnificent Leo Messi and that made all the difference. Football fans all around the world are now raising the question on how much will Barcelona charge to transfer Leo Messi. Football greats of our generation include Zinedine Zidane (£43 mil), Kaka (£56 mil), C. Ronaldo (£80 mil) who made it big with their transfer amounts. I, however have no clear amount decided for the payment of Messi as he is priceless and the transfer is no likely to happen in the near future as Messi has said it, “I will play for Barcelona as long as I can”. While joining the club at the age of 11, it was made clear that he would be playing in the biggest league with the first team and since his appearance with the team when there were star players like Ronaldinho and Eto’o, Messi has never looked back and continues to inspire the team with his startling game. He could however be bought for as much as Barca are willing to ask for, really. Of course this is assuming that Leo is actually intending to leave Barca (for a better challenge, perhaps).
The other concern of football fans across the globe is will Leo Messi be able to transform his game for the club when they start the finals in May. Indeed, this will be the real test of Leo to prove to the world who still have layers of thoughts about his greatness and abilities. Maradona had hinted that if Argentina were to lift the World Cup last year, the team would witness the second coming of their hero and nobody but Leo will be the one. Messi could have led them to glory. He is that good… much better, in fact - a genius. It seems impossible to even find the intensity of superlatives required to heap praise on a player who is attracting such universal acclaim, and rightly so. Yet while it's said that Messi is as close to Maradona as the world has since seen, he can only be mentioned in the same breath if he does it at the World Cup finals. It will be worth watching in the summers of 2014. But for now, the battle is between the youngest and fastest football strikers of two club institutions Manchester United and Barcelona. The Champions League coming into the dramatic phase of Quarter Finals and local leagues fighting off for top positions, Both Rooney and Leo have to live up to their billings to win them all. Most certainly, one of the two teams will feature in the Champions League final, maybe both in a face-off and it will be worth every salt of these super strikers to kick some ass during those moments. And Leo Messi will be under the microscope during all these.
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