Messi triumphs in Qatar.

Definitely, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini did not need to win a Cup to be the best footballer in history. I have been warning (writing) about this over the past few years, so I can affirm it without the opportunistic tinge of many speeches that I now see in the mainstream press.

As I said recently, winning the World Cup would be nothing more than the icing on the cake of his career, the final day of a fabulous harvest. Nothing more. What the Rosario star had achieved before already placed him one step above the crème de la crème of his sport.

If there is one thing I have learned in this life, it's that rigidity does not lead to success. Let's say, if I were the owner of a newspaper, to be hired it would not be necessary to present academic certificates, but to prove that one is capable of writing well. That's how I see it. After all, Christ never studied medicine, but he healed the sick.

The problem with Messi was this: they were demanding his diploma to give him the position. The trophy, due to bad intentions, ignorance, whim, or all three, had become a sine qua non condition for his visa to heaven.

I wonder: Would it be absurd for someone to nominate Ted Williams or Barry Bonds for the position of best baseball player in history? Not at all. In fact, there are many wise people out there who see them as such and rely on compelling reasons. However, beware! Williams and Bonds never won a World Series.

Football, as is well known, would not be as grand an invention as the wheel, air conditioning, and beer if it could be explained through basic syllogisms. The argument used to criticize Messi went something like:

The best team has to win the World Cup.

Messi has not won it;

Then, Messi is not the best.

Hilarious. Very funny. Based on that poisoned idea, Mario Gotze (who won with Germany in 2014) is superior to Johan Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stéfano, and an average goalkeeper like Claudio Taffarel (champion with Brazil in '94) would be greater than Lev Yashin. Hahaha. How great.

Every time I heard that explanation, I felt pity for those who - out of malice, ignorance, or caprice, or all three things - were using it. "Is this for real?" I asked a friend once. He opened his eyes as wide as possible and spat out a resounding, authoritative "yes." To avoid offending him, I chose not to quote Montaigne when he wrote that "nobody is free from saying stupid things: the terrible part is saying them with conviction."

With his victory this Sunday in Qatar, Messi tore apart the straitjacket that should never have existed. The Earth is not flat, nor is football: as in literature, in this sport, it is also necessary to read between the lines. Because yes, football may seem simple, but it is quite complicated. Things happen that escape the comprehension of those who cling to seeing everything in black or white, forgetting the beauty of the scale of grays.

For example, on November 22, Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina, putting the world at its feet and criticism rained down on Scaloni and company. Less than a month later, on December 18, Argentina conquered its third star while the Saudi players had long since retired and were saying "Salam Alaykum" in the streets of Riyadh.

Messi did not need the Cup to be the GOAT, because winning a Cup depends on many little things that go beyond one man. For example, if "Dibu" had not stopped Muani's shot in the final breath of extra time, we would be talking about a different result, but Messi's performance in the World Cup would be the same. His presence at the pinnacle of football for more than three decades, along with a frenzied shower of individual records and collective triumphs, combined with the perfect outfit for times of glory. That is, nobody generated more play, nobody assisted more, nobody dribbled more successfully, nobody scored more goals from free kicks... And nobody apart from Cristiano Ronaldo could emulate him in putting the ball in the back of the net.

Arriving here, let me assure you that the greatness of La Pulga would not have the same dimensions without the constant demand represented by CR7... and vice versa. Together, they built a rivalry that, catapulted from the media platform of the most universal of sports, has made the mythical disputes Yankees-Boston, Kasparov-Karpov, or Federer-Nadal seem like child's play. And let it be clear that I am not referring to the bland rivalry fueled by the haters of one or the other, but to the one they themselves conceived on the field in almost 10 unforgettable seasons of the Spanish league.

I return to Messi. To this low-profile genius who, due to bad intentions or ignorance or whims, or all three, they forced for years and years to embody the story of the loser. A strange loser who every week concentrated the attention of the universe, astonishing it time and time again with his propensity for victory.

The story was made up in Madrid by some idiots similar to those who, simultaneously and instinctively, tried to belittle Cristiano Ronaldo in Barcelona. The difference is that stupidity amplified by the Madrid press sounds louder, and therefore Lionel came out worse off.

Without taking a critical distance, many people started to repeat a series of concepts cooked in the cauldrons of hatred by the chefs of biased journalism. Some "cristianistas," at the height of dilettantism, accused Messi of failing in the World Cups, forgetting that their idol had also not been able to lift the Cup. Others, the "maradonianos," argued that they didn't care if the player from Rosario was on his way to 800 goals, a figure far from the just over 300 of Diego. "If he doesn't win a World Cup, he'll never measure up," they concluded.

And God pleased them. First, He tested Messi's ability to suffer and left him at the mercy of the egos wars of the albiceleste, where everyone wanted to shine above the others. He had him in agony for a loooong time, and when He saw that the guy didn't back down, He allowed divine justice to take control.

So, Messi won the Copa America at 34, a title that Diego never managed to win. Shortly after, at 35, he overcame the World Cup, emulating his compatriot's feat and securing the prize that Cristiano will no longer be able to obtain. And here's another detail: CR7 also doesn't need the World Cup trophy to prove his worth. Just the fact of having endured the competition with the best football player of all time for more than a decade, makes him, in my eyes, the second greatest player in history.

I know I repeat myself, but when I talk about Messi, it's hard for me not to write that most kids are more dazzled by the magician's art than by the acrobat's athletic virtues. And since children have the cleanest of all looks, they see better: so it is to be assumed that in the soccer circus, those who pull rabbits out of the hat also stand out.

Lionel is from that breed. A goal-maker, more than a forward. A daydreamer who does not resort to technical gestures to fill the stands with applause or ridicule the opponent, but because his mysterious understanding of the game dictates that it is time to appeal to that resource. A man-dog (as Hernán Casciari describes him) obsessed with chasing the ball and keeping it in his possession to take it "to a net at the end of a green plain."

As someone once declared, every time Messi scored a goal his detractors demanded two; when he scored from a free-kick, they complained about the poor positioning of the wall; and if Argentina lost, of course, the blame was his. The cowards, in a supreme exercise of Freudian projection, called him "cold-hearted", and even now there will be those who continue to do so despite his undeniable leadership in the Copa America and the World Cup.

Poor beings who never appreciated the privilege of having coincided in time with this implausible pygmy... If it serves as consolation, I can tell you that Lionel is close to retirement. At most in three years, the genius will hang up his boots and give rest to that left leg, the eighth wonder of the world, with all due respect to the right arm of the legendary Nolan Ryan. Then they will regret not having fully enjoyed him, and perhaps even attempt a belated Mea Culpa.

Because football without Messi will have the same rules, but it will not be the same. You'll see.