Messi - The Quiet Cheat

We all know how good Lionel Messi is. That’s something that’s not in any doubt. But one thing which never, and I mean never, get’s mentioned about the mercurial genius is the amount of time he spends on the deck.

Remember how much stick Ronnie got from the media during his time at United? Just ask Gareth Southgate and the personal vendetta his shoddy Middlesbrough team took against Ronaldo. The fact of the matter is that Ronnie took a lot of shit, he was always getting fouled. The amount of times he was kicked during a single Premier League match was astounding. But always labeled as a diver. Let’s take the example in El Classico last night. Clear penalty. Ronaldo nicked the ball in front of Victor Valdes, who got nothing on it and wrapped his legs round Ronaldo’s. Dive said the commentator. What fucking match was he watching?

Which brings us on to Messi. A player of his calabre takes a lot of stick, Sergio Ramos last night is a prime example of this, but too often he goes down looking for something. As soon as Carvalho’s shoulder made any contact with him he was down holding his face trying to get a fellow pro sent off. He probably learnt this one from his boss, renowned gay lord Pep GuardiolA, who felt the need to put his hand in the direction of his face after Ronaldo gave him a little love tap to the shoulder.  The Spanish ref actually booked Messi for this dive. Did Sky make any mention of this? Did they fuck. All they said was that it was a bad bit of play from Carvalho, no mention of how easily Messi went down or even that the ref booked him. Why is it impossible to offer any criticism towards the Argentine when in a Barcelona shirt?

Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez actually gave one of the better refereeing performances I have seen in a long time, the Madrid penalty aside, but never was any word of this really made during the Sky coverage. Gonzalez was wise to the darker side of the likes of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta so why can’t this be mentioned in a discussion of the game? The World Cup final was a prime showing. The Dutch have been lamented for their aggressive style, but many of the worst things in football were seen from the Spanish, most notably the media’s darling Iniesta, who probably spent as much time rolling around on the turf following a fair tackle than he did in the midst of the merry-go-round of pass, pass, pass.

The point I am making is Messi, or any of the other Barca players, does not need this in his game. He showed us enough during El Classico as to how talented he is, why throw yourself around when you can beat any player in the world with your head and feet? As much blame has to be heaped on the refs (El Classico apart) and the supposed pundits. Don’t automatically give a foul when he goes down, he may be the best player on the planet but not everything has to go his way. As for commentators and pundits, in the words of TV’s own Roy Walker “say what you see”.