Messi and the reasons for a reign that does not abdicate: why he remained at The Best after Haaland’s monstrous year

Pep Guardiola once said it, analyzing the Ballon d’Or there should be a special prize for Messi and another for the rest of the contestants. Much of the football world seems to think the same way (the coaches, the captains, other experts who have now expressed their opinion on the FIFA version). 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 Rosario’s star, even if Leo is exiled to a minor league like the MLS, where he has not yet showed his best version.

Messi is Messi. A qualification, a player’s ideal, a brand, an absolute left. A God of football that no one can yet bring down from his pedestal, even if the new era heralds an electrifying fight between Haaland and Kylian Mbappé (Bellingham too?) for the next few years.

But there is no succession yet. Lionel’s reign is still valid, at 36 years old, retired from the big leagues but fully in the national team and, above all, in the retinas and hearts of the fans and his colleagues. In Messi the past is present. The memory is too strong and too recent. And this makes him untouchable.

There was no equivalence between what Messi and Haaland did between 19 December 2022 and 20 August 2023, the period taken into consideration for the award. The Norwegian competed at another level, filled the net with goals and won all the titles. The man from Rosario, however, revolutionized US football with his presence and continued to arouse the interest of a legend who is far from over.

Like a boxing champion, he will continue to reign until someone throws him out of the ring. And if anything was clear with this third The Best win by Leo, it’s that it won’t be an easy task for anyone to achieve.

Once again, Guardiola ruled that Messi’s worst season was better than anyone else’s. Exaggerated, no doubt, but it seems he’s not the only one who thinks so.