The crimes of Lionel Messi

Author Le Do last week listed on The Thao Van Hoa what he calls the “7 grave crimes” of the Barcelona and Argentina striker Lionel Messi.

“Messi’s sins are too big. He has committed crimes towards both his predecessors and successors. He is guilty to his coaches, to FIFA and UEFA, and to Ronaldo and Torres,” Le Do wrote.

Crime #1: Disrespect the old and the young

Messi just doesn’t respect the elder players before his time. He has gradually smashed a number of seemingly unbreakable records set by legendary footballers.

Let’s take the elderly first. Messi has first broken the pride of Pele -- scoring 75 goals in 1958 -- without much effort, and even the record of Gerd Mueller, which was set as late as 40 years ago when there was almost no offside rule. All seems too easy under the feet of the “dwarf Messi”.

Messi may net as many as 90 goals, or even a hundred this year. If so, he will be disrespectful towards his successors. Which footballers in the next generation could ever smash such a record? It may take a century, or never. Oh wait, it could be broken just next year. Who will that genius be? The answer is: who else but Messi?

Crime #2: Make all formations meaningless

All formation arrangements, be it the traditional 4-4-2 or the currently popular 4-6-0, seem meaningless when it comes to defending the attacks from Messi.

It is just like committing suicide if a team uses only three defenders to stop him. Four is not enough. Five is not a sufficient number either. How about ten players blocking the goal? It will not work. Messi will destroy it all.

Messi, thus, is guilty to all creators of such formations.

Crime #3: Reduce World Cup’s reputation

The FIFA World Cup is undoubtedly the most honorable championship over the last 80 years. The best player of the event is usually nominated the Player of the Year.

Messi was in Argentina squat at the 2010 World Cup. But he and his team had to end their journey early. Spain won the World Cup, the Netherlands came second, but the Golden Ball was bestowed on Messi.

It’s how Messi reduced the reputation of the world’s most honorable football tournament.

Crime #4: Pay no heed to UEFA

UEFA once said its Euro and Champion League boast even higher quality than the World Cup. But well, when Inter Milan won the 2010 edition, the one who took home the Golden Ball award was Messi. In the 2012 edition, Chelsea stepped on the highest podium, but the award was still handed over to Messi. 

   Messi with the 2010 Golden Ball award 

Crime #5: Discourage number 9s

Number 9s here are the strikers, who are assigned the most important task -- scoring goals.

But poor these strikers; they must be unhappy seeing Messi, who is not a number 9 but 10, scoring far more goals than the combined wins of four to five strikers wearing number 9 shirts.

Let’s look at Torres, the number 9 player at Chelsea. Torres scored a total of 18 goals this year, while the current number of Messi is 86.

This means Messi is equal to as many as five Torres.

Crime #6: Exacerbate Ronaldo’s sadness

Cristiano Ronaldo has a lot of sadness this year. He’s unhappy as his salary remains unchanged, and as his club does not protect him. But the biggest upset must be the fact that he had to witness Messi score goals to goals.

Scoring goals is Ronaldo’s utmost pride, but he is now left far behind.

People say the gap between Ronaldo and Messi is just small. But even with the number of scored goals alone, the gap is already huge.

Crime #7: Make tiki-taka a normal tactic

A number of clubs are following the tiki-taka technique of Barcelona. In England, many are playing tiki-taka -- from Arsenal to Liverpool and Chelsea. But they are all in trouble.

And they all conclude that: without Messi, tiki-taka would just be normal.