Barcelona defeated lowly Tenerife 4-1 at the Nou Camp yesterday to extend their lead over rivals Real Madrid to 4 points. Madrid can reduce this to just 1 point if they beat Mallorca tonight. Again inspirational forward Messi was on the score sheet bagging a brace for the Catalans to take his tally in the league to 31. Pretty impressive if you consider he has made 32 appearances for the Blaugrana this season.
However, that is not what i want to write about. If there is any player who i have heard so much about these past few months it has to be the Argentinean international and am not complaining. Personally, i think Messi is worth every once of publicity he is getting. The only problem is that not too many people feel the same way i do.
In 2008 the world could not get enough of the then Manchester United Winger Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese was having his best season ever and as you can guess the English media milked it for all it was worth. Makes me wonder what they would do had Messi been plying his trade in the EPL.
Anyway, i did not like all the attention Ronaldo was getting then. Maybe it was because of the media. I respect Ronaldo and i think he is a really good player but the media were a little bit extreme in his case. Messi although playing good football, was always going to play second fiddle to Ronaldo.
Now the tables have turned and Ronaldo has to watch as the world marvels at Messi’s every touch of the ball. The Barcelona forward has dominated the European scene in 09/2010 and with the World Cup slightly over a month away, many will be expecting Messi to shine for La Albiceleste.
So is Messi overrated? No, and neither is Cristiano Ronaldo. These are two of the finest players of their generation and i cannot wait to see them live in action in South Africa.
Photo credit: from FCB19