Messi

by Luca Caioli

  ‘Good evening and thank you very much for your applause,’ says Leo, gripping the lectern. ‘The truth is … I wasn’t expecting to win tonight. It was already wonderful to be here with my teammates, and to win it is even more exciting. This is a very special day for me and I want to share it with my teammates and thank them, because without them I would not be here. I would also like to share it with the people I love, who have always supported me and are always by my side. And I want to share it with the whole of Barcelona and Argentina.’ More applause, followed by a slideshow of the Argentine’s best moments, congratulatory remarks, and a family photo with the runners-up.

  Despite all bets being on Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández as the favourites, Messi has won the 2010 FIFA Ballon d’Or. It is a prize which rewards the achievements of an individual during the preceding year, taking into account past record, influence on the team and fair play. This year, for the first time, the trophy which France Football created in 1956 has been merged with the FIFA World Player of the year award, which the footballing organisation launched in 1991, meaning that this year Lionel has been chosen by journalists from all over the world, as well as the managers and captains of 208 national teams. The Argentine has been awarded 853 points (22.65 per cent of the vote), Andrés Iniesta 677 (17.36 per cent) and Xavi Hernández 637 (16.48 per cent). At 23, he is the youngest player to receive his second Ballon d’Or. Alfredo di Stéfano was 33 when he won it for the second time in 1959, Michel Platini was 29, Johan Cruyff was almost 26 when he won it, Ronaldo was 26 when he was crowned in 2002 after the Japan and Korea World Cup, while Marco van Basten won his second trophy before turning 25.

  ‘Messi deserves it. He’s the best, there’s no doubt about it. I’m very happy, just being here is reward enough,’ says Andrés Iniesta after the ceremony, although he seems disappointed to have missed out on the prize after coming so close.

  ‘Anything is possible,’ says Xavi, the bronze award winner. ‘The truth is that none of the three of us knew who was going to win, but when Leo got it I felt that it was footballing justice because he’s the best player in the world, he makes an impact in every match. It’s not a big deal that I didn’t win it. Individual prizes in football are always unfair, because it’s a team sport. Raúl, Casillas and Puyol, for example, all deserve it and none of them have won it. At the end of the day, the prize has stayed in the family once again, with Barça and with La Masia – our youth academy.’

  It’s hard to believe that none of them knew who was going to win. But judging by Lionel’s body language it must be true. The kid from Rosario has been perfectly calm at the gala during the lead-up to the announcement, much more so than he was at the same venue in 2009 when he collected FIFA World Player of the Year. He gets into the festivities at the Hyatt Hotel with everyone else. He doesn’t give the impression that he already knows the result of the votes. He is convinced that since Spain won the World Cup, one of their players will win the Ballon d’Or.

  ‘I don’t mind whether it’s Xavi or Iniesta. Both of them deserve it,’ he says. Unlike Real Madrid manager José Mourinho who knew beforehand that he had beaten Spain’s manager Vicente del Bosque as well as Pep Guardiola to the best manager prize, Messi has no idea that he will be winning his second Ballon d’Or. He thinks there is no chance after his World Cup performance. Which is why, when he comes onto the Palace of Congress stage as a member of the ‘best eleven of 2010’ (Casillas, Puyol, Piqué, Lucio, Maicon, Iniesta, Xavi, Sneijder, Cristiano Ronaldo, Villa, Messi), he looks relaxed and nowhere near as nervous as he has on previous occasions.

  It is only at 8.05pm when Guardiola announces his name that Leo realises that what he thought was unlikely has become reality. Father Christmas has brought him the present he wanted the most but didn’t dare ask for. He is embarrassed to hold the trophy and he is almost apologetic to his teammates in front of the cameras and microphones. On the private plane ride back to Barcelona, already having ditched the suit and tie in favour of a t-shirt, he lifts his champagne in a toast. ‘I want to toast Xavi and Iniesta,’ he says. ‘Although I won, they deserve it just as much as I do. So this is for them.’

  Surprises aside, it seems that none of the other candidates or winners objects to Messi’s prize. José Mourinho, for example, explains: ‘For me, Messi, Iniesta and Xavi are players on another level. And when a player on another level such as Messi wins, everyone should respect it. Obviously, I would have preferred Sneijder to win after everything he’s done in the past year, or Cristiano Ronaldo because he’s one of my current players, or Diego Milito, but I have to respect the choice that has been made.’

  Vicente del Bosque, who was tipped as the favourite for manager of the year, tells the journalists: ‘Here nobody is a loser. It was very difficult to choose the best and I think that Mourinho deserves it just as much as Leo Messi.’

  Real Madrid and Spanish captain Iker Casillas has a different opinion: ‘I prefer to focus on the criteria required to award the Ballon d’Or … the World Cup has always been extremely significant in these types of awards, except in the year after Spain’s win. The least I can say is that we’ve been unlucky. All the Spaniards are feeling slightly incredulous. I would have liked Andrés or Xavi to win, but we’ll keep fighting for them to win it one day.’ (It is worth remembering that only one Spanish-born player has ever won the Ballon d’Or, Luis Suárez in 1960.)

  The debate shows no sign of abating the following day. ‘Spain is seething. It’s gold for Messi and disappointment for Spain,’ reads the As headline. And in its report, the Madrid publication notes that ‘protocol generally dictates that the FIFA winners are chosen from the country that won the World Cup the previous year, but it has been ignored – it seemed like a foregone conclusion.’ It later adds: ‘Messi without Xavi and Iniesta is a lot less Messi.’

  ‘Two giants [Messi and Mourinho] and a Spanish boycott,’ complains the cover of Marca. ‘Blatter deals Spanish football a slap in the face for the second time in a month. He denied us the 2018 World Cup in December, and now he has left Xavi, Iniesta and del Bosque trophy-less.’ Marca has also launched a poll on its website: ‘Was it fair for Messi to win the Ballon d’Or?’ In fewer than twelve hours there are 80,000 votes – 68.2 per cent of which do not agree with France Football and FIFA’s decision.

  But it is not just the online voters and the Madrid sports media who are disappointed with FIFA. National newspaper El País also carries an article by José Sámano reflecting on the lack of silverware in Spain’s coffers.

  ‘Among the many ways of working out who was going to win the Ballon d’Or, South Africa 2010 should have been the best indicator. Not just because the World Cup is the best showcase for football, but because it was symptomatic of the three finalists yesterday. Messi has triumphed when he has played with Xavi and Iniesta, but he couldn’t do it without them in Africa. The two Spaniards made it to the top without the Argentine’s help. The two of them, Xavi as much as Iniesta, don’t just symbolise an attractive ideology about the game the way that Messi does. They represent a national team that has been consistently successful during the last two tournaments. But it should be noted that since 1995 when the prize was extended to non-European players, in a World Cup year the winner has always been a World Cup champion: Zidane in 1998, Ronaldo in 2002, and Cannavaro in 2006. Maybe questions need to be asked about why Spain loses all the global sporting votes: the 2016 Olympics, the 2018 World Cup, the 2010 Ballon d’Or … It’s a well deserved prize for Messi but it’s an undeserved indifference towards Spanish football, a day Barcelona will not forget.’

  If disappointment and ‘nationalist’ criticism prevail in Madrid, discussion over award criteria is also rife in Italy and France. And almost nobody agrees with the choice of Messi as winner. ‘Messi? Nooo!’ reads the headline in Gazzetta dello Sport, summing up the general feelings of the Italian press. For the tabloids, who had already crowned Andrés Iniesta as the winner, the Flea’s second consecutive win is ‘unbelievable�
�� and ‘unfair’ because it ‘doesn’t reflect in the slightest’ who the best player of 2010 really was. Turin newspaper La Stampa writes that ‘football has lost its way’, since ‘Messi has not won any titles of late’. Messi’s 58 goals in the last season which helped Barça win their second consecutive Liga title and the Supercup against Seville seem to count for very little, as does the Argentine’s brilliant start to the season (28 goals in 26 matches). All that matters is the World Cup and the Champions League.

  More than calling Leo’s abilities into question, the French and Italian media are keen to discuss FIFA’s new formula. The first criticism began back on 26 October when the 23 nominations were announced. How could Diego Milito, a key player in Inter Milan’s Italian league win and Champions League win, not have made the list? On the other hand, how could Asamoah Gyan (who played for Rennes and now Sunderland) be on the list with only three World Cup goals for Ghana?

  And when the shortlist of the final three is announced on 5 December, the debate intensifies. The Italians don’t understand why Inter’s Dutch player Sneijder, winner of the triple (Liga, Champions League and Coppa Italia) and World Cup finalist with five goals during the tournament, has been left out of the running. (Later it transpires that if it hadn’t been for the journalists’ votes, Sneijder would have been the winner, with Messi in fourth place.) In any case, no one is expecting the Argentine to be on the winner’s podium, everyone thinks it will be Iniesta, who scored the goal which clinched Spain’s first World Cup title. But it isn’t … and the mutterings continue.

  ‘It isn’t a scandal,’ maintains UEFA president Michel Platini, ‘but in a World Cup year they should really have given it to one of the players involved. Like Paolo Rossi in 1982.’ (The year in which Italy beat Spain.)

  But in Barcelona they disagree. ‘The undisputed number one doesn’t need a World Cup in order to win the prize,’ insists Mundo Deportivo. ‘Gold for Messi, glory for Barça,’ reads the headline in Sport, emphasising that more than any individual player, there is one clear winner: Barcelona. The only dissenting opinion comes from weekly sports magazine Don Balón, which writes in its editorial: ‘Few people doubt that Messi is number one, but in 2010, Xavi – if Iniesta will excuse me – deserved to be recognised as the chosen one.’

  In Argentina, for once, there is no debate. All the newspapers sing Leo’s praises. ‘Messi is the best once again,’ says Clarín. ‘The world worships Messi,’ writes La Nación. ‘Messi is pure gold,’ claims Página 12.

  ‘El secreto de sus oros,’ or, ‘The secret of his gold,’ reads the front cover of sports paper Olé, playing on the title of the well known Argentine film El secreto de sus ojos – The secret in their eyes – directed by Juan José Campanella and starring renowned Argentine actor Ricardo Darín.

  ‘I didn’t go to Zurich because I was afraid of witnessing an enormous injustice,’ declares the president of the Argentine Football Association Julio Grondona. ‘But in the end, the gap between first and second place was huge. I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if Messi hadn’t won.’

  ‘If there had been three trophies, they would have given one to each of them, but there is only one and they gave it to the best. People will always complain, but let them talk,’ reasons Diego Armando Maradona from where he is staying in Mar del Plata. ‘Xavi always looks like he’s in control, he plays with authority, but it’s Messi who scores the goals. Yes, Iniesta scored in the World Cup final, he’s a great player, fantastic, talented. I would want him in my team. But out of those three, I would choose Messi ten times over.’ And when asked about the Spaniards’ annoyance regarding Messi’s triumph, the Pelusa replies: ‘They might be the champions of the world, but we have the best player in the world.’

  The day after the gala, responding to criticism over FIFA’s decision and the feeling that the Rosarino has snatched the title away from Spanish football, Guardiola repeats Maradona’s convictions that Leo is the best. ‘How can anyone say they’ve been robbed by Messi?! Messi gives us so much,’ declares the Barcelona manager. ‘He allows everyone to sit down and enjoy themselves every weekend. He makes La Liga better and more respected. Could Xavi or Iniesta have won it? Of course, but Leo won it because more than 400 people voted for him. If people think it’s unfair, it’s just because they had a different preference.

  ‘Look, this is an art – people sit down to watch a match and they say “That was a great match, and that one, and that one”. At the end of the year they close their eyes and they remember a guy who gave them a hell of a show. And they vote. And there’s no point in rehashing it all. Spain is the world champion, and they were represented by six players in the “best eleven of the year”. How much more recognition for Spanish football could you ask for?!’

  Despite having two such heavyweight advocates in his corner, Messi still has to speak out and explain to one and all that he has no reason to justify himself because has not ‘robbed’ anyone of anything, and he has done enough to merit lifting the trophy. He is speaking at a press conference, straight after a long France Football interview conducted at home just after the ceremony in Switzerland. He pays no attention to those who object to his win.

  ‘It doesn’t faze me,’ he says. ‘I have the respect and recognition of my teammates and my fellow countrymen. All my colleagues are happy for me and that’s the main thing. Spain should be happy because they are world champions and European champions and they have the best league in the world.’

  Regarding his teammates, he says: ‘There is no jealousy between us. In the dressing room we are completely united. We are more than colleagues, we are friends. We know what relationship we have with each other, we know how well we all get on, we don’t have to explain ourselves to anyone. Everything will continue exactly as before, and that’s all that matters.’ He adds that in his opinion Xavi and Iniesta are the best players in the world. He regrets not getting up and hugging them on the night after hearing that he had won the prize, but he explains that he had a panic attack and his legs were shaking. The press want to know how he feels about his new trophy. ‘I’m very happy and very proud. Two Ballon d’Or awards at my age is fantastic. Or rather, I should say, unexpected.’

  It’s Wednesday 12 January 2011, and the Nou Camp is getting ready for the Copa del Rey quarter final against Real Betis. It’s an opportunity to celebrate with the fans, to toast the trophy win with the Barcelona faithful. A gigantic Ballon d’Or made of golden balloons occupies the centre circle of the pitch. Leo, Xavi and Iniesta are on the pitch, listening to messages from their respective families being broadcast over the loudspeaker. Blaugrana captain Carles Puyol comes up to his number 10 and presents him with the trophy. Messi lifts the Ballon d’Or, waves to the crowd and poses for photographs while the coaches and staff give him a standing ovation. The entire stadium claps and cheers.

  Eighty-five minutes later, the sound of ‘Messi! Messi! Messi!’ is even more deafening. The Flea has celebrated in the way only he knows how – with a hat-trick.

  Chapter 39

  Simply the best

  28 May 2011

  What can you say? What more is there to say about Leo after the final at Wembley? The only thing left to say is that Messi is simply the best. And it’s unanimous. So much so that for once the English and Argentine media are in agreement, both using the word ‘king’ to describe him. ‘God save the king’ reads the headline in Olé, hopping on board with the current British love for royals, while the Sunday Times runs with ‘King Messi reigns’. Back in 2009 when he had already been crowned ‘King of Europe’, a fan in Valencia was daring enough to try to confer on him the title of King of Spain – in front of King Juan Carlos himself.

  At the home of English football, the Flea leads a wonderfully lively performance, exquisite and lyrical, and the Brits leave the ground convinced that they have just witnessed what can truly be called a beautiful game. A match to tell your grandchildren about. A performance rewarded with the man of the match title, presented
on the pitch, a performance which exhausts all the media’s best adjectives. It is so convincing that the Guardian compares it to Nándor Hidegkuti’s performance at the same stadium, when he scored a hat-trick in Hungary’s 6-3 victory over England in the autumn of 1953.

  Above all, Messi has been a team player. He finds spaces and moves between the defence to strengthen Barça’s position and unravel Man United’s game plan. He demonstrates his wide repertoire: quick runs, passes in from the touchline to get round the opponents, assists, and attempts at goal. He gives the Reds’ defence a run for their money and he’s Vidić and Evra’s worst nightmare. ‘To be honest, we’ve never been able to keep Messi completely in check, so we had fair warning,’ concedes the Red Devils’ manager Sir Alex Ferguson at the post-match press conference. ‘We’ve never managed to close off the midfield enough to stop them in their tracks.’

  During the first nine minutes the Flea, like the whole team, seems trapped on the line. He tries three times in a row to steal the play from Park … but on the fourth he comes out dribbling and Barça finally begin to implement their master plan. They destroy Manchester United, staying true to their signature style of quality, movement and exceptional class. Rarely has anything like this been seen in a Champions League final. ‘We’ve never been given such a thrashing before,’ admits Ferguson.