Leo Andres Messi Cuccittini is TWENTY-SEVEN years old. The Rosario native affectionately called the atomic flea has done it again. In the space of four days, the diminutive football god broke the long standing scoring records of la liga and the European Cup held by Telmo Zarranonandia and Raul Gonzalez. It is not that both situations were unexpected, but what remained a mystery was how he was going to shatter the records and customarily, he did it the way only MESSI can. A treble on Saturday at the Nou Camp was quickly followed by another unique treble in Nicosia. No one else can use his weaker foot to score a hat-trick on a day when a record breaking feat was achieved. Only LEO MESSI can and he came to the fore.
Waking up this morning, I thought to myself 'What would have been if there was no CRISTIANO RONALDO?'. Perhaps, we would have been bored stiff by now as our beloved sport could have only boasted one ruler. Whatever be the case, this is the best era ever and I don't care what anyone else thinks. No era has ever been dominated by two men the way it is happening now and we have to continuously celebrate both of them because it is an honour watching them break and set records week in, week out.
Leo Messi, at 27 years of age, is now the highest ever goal scorer for Barcelona, greatest ever in la liga and predator in chief of the European Cup/UCL. It is astoundingly outstanding that one man holds the aforementioned accolades. Unreal stuff and there are still a lot more to decimate before he calls it a day. As a self-confessed CR7 fan, I cannot help but be in glowing admiration of what Messi has achieved in his career to date. He is insurmountable, He is the standard measurement of any awesome thing that has transpired in our beautiful game. Hate him or love him, you cannot take away the fact that he is probably now as good as Pele, Maradona, Garrincha, Cruyff, Di Stefano, Eusebio, Zizou, Ronaldo Da Lima, Beckenbauer, Puskas and Platini. He and CR7 are in this exalted company and head and shoulders above anyone else in this era.
Never has it been seen that TWO INDIVIDUALS dominated a sport such as this. We can point to great sporting rivalries like Frazier-Ali, Proist-Senna, Borg-McEnroe, Chamberlain-Russell, Rafa-Roger, Henin-Clijsters, Navratilova-Evert, Edberg-Becker, etc but MESSI-CR7 tops the bill unarguably and is going to be the greatest rivalry of all time when it finally ends. Meanwhile, let us enjoy every moment we are blessed with, seeing them slug it out time and time again.
My final submission is that MESSI is a better player than Ronaldo and I am the latter's biggest fan but the Portuguese hard worker is the most complete footballer of all time and is an all time great as well as Leo and this rivalry will have a lot of twists and turns in years to come.
Bonus......
Sergio 'Kun' Aguero was at it again, single handedly dragging Manchester City from the doldrums of defeat to the most unlikeliest of victories against Bayern Munich. The EPL top scorer had three shots on target and scored from all three. Perfection! Absolutely phenomenal achievement. He didn't feed off anyone's assist. He took it upon himself to claw his team back to reckoning. His heroics ensured that the citizens can still qualify for the knockout stages of the UCL if they earn a good result at the Italian capital v Roma in the next match day. With Aguero on a hot streak, this is very attainable.
Xabi Alonso also scored on his birthday last night but was at fault for one of EL KUN's goals. He ultimately undid his good work. Unlike the pass master but some days are like that.
Congratulations Porto and Chelsea who comprehensively routed their opponents last night to qualify for the next round. Schalke were totally outclassed at the Veltins Arena by the EPL table toppers. Didier Drogba registered his 50th goal in European Competitions, becoming the first African to reach the mark and the second non-European (after MESSI) to score 50 goals in European club football. Old but gold, the Ivorian.
Ohireime P Eboreime
Twitter @ohiskaka1990
