Nick Kennicott

Sometimes, I sit down and genuinely wonder what kind of footballer Lionel Messi is. Someone once described him as a spiritual leader of football. Honestly, even that sounds like an understatement. Do you understand what it means to be so good at a sport that opponents have to rethink how they play it simply because you exist? Messi wasn't just another player coaches prepared their teams to face. Sometimes, he was the problem around which the entire tactical plan was built. Look at José Mourinho's Inter in 2010. Mourinho explained how his defensive structure was organised around preventing Messi from receiving the ball comfortably. Zanetti, Cambiasso and Motta had specific responsibilities depending on where Messi moved. They called it a Gabbia (a cage). Think about that for a moment. It wasn't simply eleven players defending against Barcelona. It was an entire defensive structure designed to deny one man the freedom to play his football. And that wasn't an isolated incident. Coaches had to account for his movements, anticipate his decisions, adjust their marking assignments and find ways to close spaces before he could exploit them. Messi became a tactical problem that required tactical solutions. And when you couldn't always explain what he was doing with ordinary football language, people started looking for other explanations. FIFA this. Referees that. Favourite of the system. Protected player. Everything except acknowledging that sometimes, the simplest explanation is that you're watching an extraordinary footballer. Did FIFA invent his left foot? Did FIFA teach him to see passes other players couldn't imagine? Did FIFA score those free kicks, produce those assists, dribble past those defenders or create those chances? Football has always had controversial decisions. Messi has benefited from some, suffered from others, just like other great players. But you cannot use individual controversies to erase two decades of footballing excellence. And perhaps the most fascinating thing about Messi is that he has managed to evolve without losing the essence of what makes him special. At 19, he was a different kind of nightmare. The acceleration, the explosive dribbling, the ability to leave defenders behind as though they were standing still. At 39, the acceleration isn't what it used to be. But watch him play. The intelligence, the disguise in his passing, the little one-twos, the awareness of space, the ability to manipulate an opponent's movement before releasing the ball. He has lost some speed, but he hasn't lost the ability to make football move at his pace. He went from outrunning defenders to outthinking entire defensive structures. And this is where Greek mythology almost becomes necessary to describe him. In Greek mythology, Athena represented wisdom and strategic intelligence, while Hermes represented speed and agility. Messi's career almost feels like a story of both. The young Messi carried the qualities of Hermes. The older Messi increasingly resembles Athena: seeing the game several moves ahead, understanding spaces, manipulating situations and finding solutions before opponents realise there is a problem. He is a footballing paradox: a player who once conquered defenders with his legs and now continues to conquer them with his mind. At the 2026 World Cup, at 39, he reached another final with Argentina. And in the 2026 Ballon d'Or rankings, he finished fifth, surrounded by players representing the next generation of football. Let that sink in. A man who has already given football almost everything is still competing among the names expected to define its future. I don't think we appreciate the magnitude of that enough. And that's why I sometimes wish people would stop turning every Messi discussion into an argument about who is better, who has more goals, who has more trophies or who received what award. There is a bigger conversation here.👇