At the moment the answer would most likely be a resounding “Yes” considering Lionel Messi’s torrid scoring run and his great form. However, one would only need to look at Argentina’s matches to see how the talented Messi who is widely regarded as the best player in the world becomes just another good player. In fact the Barcelona version of the player can be considered as unplayable and near impossible to stop while the Messi who plays for Argentina is still a quality player but one who can be somewhat restricted.

Messi’s form for Barca puts him alongside some of the best players in the world in the last two decades including Zinedine Zidane and the Brazilian Ronaldo (when healthy and at his peak). Messi will surpass both and perhaps be considered one of the best ever if he can lift the World Cup trophy in South Africa 2010. At the tender age of 22 he has already won the Spanish la Liga and the Champions League not to mention the historic sweep of all titles available the last campaign. This is in itself a great achievement which cannot be underestimated but for him to be considered amongst the best ever, Messi must win the World Cup with Argentina.

This season Messi has already scored more goals than he did last season in all competitions and his 27 goals in la Liga are more than the 23 he managed last season in the domestic league. Messi’s form with Barca does not translate to his caps with Argentina where his performances are deemed as less impressive and not as great. The main reason is the fact Barca have a better structured team with more talented players and a vastly superior coach in Josep Guardiola. Diego Maradona might be one of the best players to ever grace the football field but he was never admired for his character and his limited coaching skills leave a lot to be desired. Guardiola took over as a young coach but proved he had the tactical knowledge but more importantly he knew how best to use Messi and the current talent at his disposal. The fact Guardiola spent the majority of his career at the Camp Nou helps as well while Maradona had limited coaching experience prior to taking over Argentina and has shown he is clueless when it comes to bringing the best out of Messi.

Argentina have quality players and are not a bad team but Maradona has failed to surround Messi with the right players and has not been able to employ the proper system which turns Messi into the focal point in the national team. In Barcelona Messi can rely on the talented and underrated Xavi Hernandez to thread in pinpointed passes and provide incisive assists. Xavi was one of the main architects behind the triumph over Real Madrid and he is by far one of the most reliable and effective midfielders in the world. Messi also has the likes of Andres Iniesta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Daniel Alves who provide ample support in terms of passing, assists and diversion to free up the Argentine genius and give him more space to roam freely and operate.

The answer to the question why Barca’s Messi performs much better than the Messi who represents Argentina could be simply down to the one way to stop the young star: Hire Maradona and make sure Messi is not surrounded by the appropriate squad. Could the main obstacle preventing Messi’s rise to claim the crown of one of the best ever be none other than Maradona (a former great and the current Argentina coach)? Some believe Maradona’s ego and desire to safeguard his status as Argentina’s best ever is behind Messi’s shortcomings while others simply attribute this to Maradona’s utter incompetence as a tactician.

Will Messi carry Argentina all the way to the final and help his country claim a third World Cup title to cement himself as not just this generation’s best player but one of the best ever to play in the history of the game? Only time will tell and barring any injury Messi has about three chances (World Cup 2010, World Cup 2014 and World Cup 2018).

As expected Lionel Messi succeeded Cristiano Ronaldo as the winner of the Ballon d’Or award. The Barcelona star comfortably won the prize but he admitted his surprise at the margin of victory as he received 240 points more than Cristiano Ronaldo who finished second.

Messi was quite close to winning all 480 points  possible as he finished with a near perfect 473 points while Real Madrid’s Ronaldo got 233 points which is less than half of Messi’s total! There is no doubt the Argentinian deserved to win since he was one of the main driving forces behind Barca’s treble winning season. He led all scorers in the Champions League with nine goals and scored in the final triumph against none other than Ronaldo’s Manchester United. The Catalan club’s star also scored 23 times in la Liga and was on the score sheet six times in the Copa del Rey.

The goals scored by Messi do not tell the whole story since his contributions transcend beyond the occasions he found the back of the net to include the assists he provided his fellow Barca players with. Messi’s assists totalled 18 in all competitions. The top spots on the list were dominated by Barca players which is also not surprising considering the influence of the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta as well as current Inter striker Samuel Eto’o.

Messi mentioned to France Football he is honoured to win the award and dedicated it to his family. He also said he was delighted to become the first Argentina to win the Ballon d’Or. Given the performances of Messi the past year, it is near impossible to find any other player more deserving of the individual award. It will not be a shock if Messi repeats next year, but his chances will be hindered if his country continues to struggle  under Maradona’s leadership and fails to impress in South Africa 2010. Despite the concerns over Argentina and Maradona, who can bet against Messi repeating as the award winner?

There has been quite a deal of talk about Lio Messi.   Between the fans and media from both sides of the Atlantic is just seems like they are talking out of both sides of their mouth.  They seem to want have their cake and eat, too.   Back in 2005 and 2006 Diego Maradona was singing Lio Messi’s praises.  This kid was going to be the future of football.  Fast forward three years later and Messi is still electric, but his style of play has never changed. So where was Maradona back then?

When things are going great, he is a maestro.  Messi is a genius with the ball between the boots.  When things weren’t going so well, that same attitude has made him a ball hog.   He then started to get the other players on his team involved. Brilliant passes to Xavi, Eto’o, Bojan, and the rest of characters at the Nou Camp had people asking why he wasn’t more selfish.   Messi was also the one that put that pinpoint pass to Ángel Di Maria in Beijing.   Maradona saying a player is selfish is like the pot calling the kettle black.  As a player, he was selfish both in and off of the pitch, yet no one reprimanded him for that.   It was only after his well documented off the field antics  that his selfishness began to be criticized.

He will always be under that microscope and the pendulum will swing from one extreme to the other for the rest of his career.    This is part of the job description for a young man that has been called  “The Next Big Thing”  since the before he hit puberty.   I mean, for goodness sakes, he is only 21 and he has so much maturing to do still.  He has done quite a bit of it in front of our eyes.

There are positions in the world that are very daunting to undertake and Argentine superstar Sergio Agüero can have the distinction of being the most daunting player both on and off the field.

His gunslinging attitude on the field made him an idol fairly quickly at Atlético Madrid, but it is his relationship with his current girlfriend that makes him even ¨braver¨.

He is not currently engaged to just any model or girl in Europe. He is currently living with none other that Gianina Maradona. I guess by the last name you would know who she is related to. Speculation as to him becoming a father were confirmed against Brazil after one of his We´re Having A Baby!goals when he ran towards the stands where his future father-in-law sat and sucked his thumb, giving the hint.

Afterwards, he mentioned that he did that in order to dedicate the goal to his girlfriend who watched intently in Buenos Aires. The world meanwhile watched how the Argentine demigod broke into a combination of tears and joy as he got the news the only way you could give it to Maradona- after a great goal against a rival.