Pep Guardiola, analysing the Ballon d'Or, once said that there should be a special award for Messi and another for the rest of the competitors. That's what a large part of the football world (the coaches, the captains, other experts who have now expressed themselves in FIFA's version) seem to think. It is not enough for a goal-scoring animal like Erling Haaland to win the Premier League, the Champions League and everything he plays in a year to dethrone the Rosario star even though Leo is exiled in a minor league like the MLS, where he has not yet shown his best version.
Messi is Messi. A qualifier, an ideal player, a brand, an absolute left-footedness. A God of football that no one can yet come down from, even if the new era announces an electrifying fight between Haaland and Kylian Mbappé (also Bellingham?) for the next few years.
But there is no succession yet. Lionel's reign is still in force, at the age of 36, retired from the big leagues but full in the National Team and, above all, in the retinas and hearts of the fans and his colleagues. In Messi, the past is the present. The memory is too strong and too recent. And it makes him untouchable.
There was no equivalence between what Messi and Haaland did between December 19, 2022 and August 20, 2023, the period that was taken into account for the award. The Norwegian competed on another level, filled the nets with goals and won all the titles. The Rosario native, meanwhile, revolutionized U.S. soccer with his presence alone and continued to collect the interest of a legend that is far from extinguished.
Messi brought the Ballon d'Or to Miami.Photo: AP
As a boxing champion, he will continue to reign until someone takes him out of the ring. And if there is one thing that was clear with this third The Best won by Leo, it is that it will not be an easy task for either of us to achieve it.
Guardiola once said that Messi's worst season was better than anyone else's. Exaggerated, to be sure, but he doesn't seem to be the only one who thinks so.