There’s a disconnect between personal and team excellence.
Courtesy: Pulse
Touted by many as ‘The GOAT (‘The Greatest Of All Time’), Lionel Messi has equally been unlucky. Yes, he is a superb player, but his teams, well, that’s a different story.
Personally, Messi scoops up award after award, but that’s not the case for either Barcelona or Argentina, the diminutive playmaker’s teams.
Issues date as far back as 2007 when a young Messi lost the Copa America Cup final with his Argentinian side. Seven years later, he led his Argentinian side to a World Cup Final–only to fail again. The same outcome came in both 2015 and 2016 when Argentina lost to Chile in the Copa America final.
The same fate was unreversed when Juventus knocked out Messi and Barca in the 2016/17 Champion League semi-finals. The following season, Barcelona went up 4-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals against Roma at Camp Nou only to see Roma storm back (3-0) to advance.
Could lightning strick twice? Yes! Barcelona beat Liverpool, 3-0, at Camp Nou in the this year’s Champion’s semis, but that lead didn’t hold. Just a few days ago, Liverpool scored four goals in the second game to score a 4-3 aggregate victory.
So, despite his personal success, team success hasn’t been in the equation for Messi. Losing one epic match after another could devastate a lesser person. It would be easy to sleep in late and don a cap with sunglasses to wonder the streets.
No so for Lionel Messi. Perhaps passion is what makes him hang in there. And if there’s anything we know for sure, it’s that the greatest in the world will continue to do just that. And one of these days … just maybe … a major international team title will be his.
