For every great icon, be it in film, music, sport or elsewhere, there are stories, myths and urban legends which add to the mystique and character of that individual.
Many of these stories derive from a pre-fame time. Dubious claims, most of which cannot be ratified, add a sense of intrigue and impromptu genius to what we later know to become a breathtaking talent.
And so one goes....It's the summer of 2000 and FC Barcelona are holding trials, with many hopeful young boys all aspiring to gain a place into the famed academy of the Catalan giants.
A spindly 12 year-old kid - with legs like pipe cleaners - is mistakenly sent to play with a group a few years younger such is his slight of frame and lack of inches.
The young boy voices up and tells the coaches, unaware he is suffering from a growth hormone deficiency, his real age, and the lad is sent to play in the correct age group.
This session is being observed by Carles Rexach, a former Barcelona player, manager and sporting director at the time. Just five minutes in, Rexach notices the pale, frail, beedy eyed boy running rings around the rest. "We'll have him" declares Rexach, and so Lionel Andres Messi arrived at Barcelona.
Even from such a tender age, the recognition of Messi's ability was so great that the club offered to uproot his family from Argentina, and pay for the growth hormone treatment he required.
The Messi family obliged, and a love affair began.
In purely footballing terms, there seems a natural bond between Barca and Messi.
The ever increasing capitalist circles around football are honourably shunned by Barcelona, whilst Messi remains commercially and publicity shy. Both parties united for their love of the ball and the beautiful game.
The same summer of 2000 that saw Messi's arrival, saw one time Barca vice captain and wing wizard Luis Figo absconded from the Camp Nou to bitter rivals Real Madrid. There seems little chance of Messi ever doing anything similar.
Given the physical constraints of his youth, Messi's rise to prominence has been nothing short of remarkable.
He made his Barca debut aged just 16, his Argentina debut 54 days after his 18th Birthday, and now, still aged just 21, is the catalyst of these two footballing institutions.
What is even more remarkable is the level of personal performance for one so young.
So many players fail to harness potential into tangiable product. By 21, careers can remain unfulfilled. punctuated with moments of brilliance, yet stained with long periods of frustration.
Learning curves, experience and maturity are defensible manager speak for protege's not quite doing the business. None of the terms have ever need been applied to Messi.
His head seldomly turned by hype or off-field distractions, in little over four seasons he has risen from the outskirts of Barca's first team to being undoubtedly the best, and most effective player in world football.
Wednesday nights Champions League Quarter Final demolition of Bayern Munich was just one in a number of extraordinary outings from Messi, in which he has single handedly destroyed top-class opposition.
To score two goals and set another two up in a Champions League quarter is an achievement in itself, but such performances of individual brilliance are commonplace for a man used to making a mockery of the worlds best defences.
Already Messi can boast a hat-trick against Real Madrid, another against Atletico Madrid aswell as numerous important and influential goals at home and abroad.
Twice this season he has been summoned from the bench to turn one goal deficits into 2-1 victories. Against both Shakhtar Donetsk and Racing Santander, he came on to score both goals.
To simply define Messi's game in terms of goals would be a complete injustice. The speed and grace with which he moves with the ball is staggering. His close control and dribbling ability are unparalleled and crucially, a brilliant footballing brain resonates, and compounds the link between speed of thought and speed of movement to devastating effect.
Aside from the goals there are the assists, aside from the assists there is the general havoc he wreaks whenever in posession, apart from all that there is the fear he brings. Teams and players are scared of Messi. He is unstoppable.
A concise arguement would suggest the only player currently comparable to Messi is Cristiano Ronaldo. Deservedly owner of the Ballon D'Or for 2008, following a remarkable 42 goals and League and European Cup double for Manchester United.
Even still this season, Ronaldo is joint top of the Premier League scoring charts despite missing the first month through injury. But is even Ronaldo comparable to Little Leo?
You can either choose to believe that statistics never lie, or decide that there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Either way, I'll present a few to chew over.......
- Lionel Messi has played 151 games in all competitions for Barcelona, scoring 74 goals. A strike rate of 0.49 goals per game.
- Cristiano Ronaldo has played a total of 282 games for Manchester United, scoring 112 goals. A strike rate of 0.39 goals per game.
- Lionel Messi is 21, in 3 seasons at Manchester United from 18-21, Ronaldo played 137 games, scoring 27 goals, a strike rate of 0.19.
- In the Champions League, Messi has 16 goals in 30 ties, Ronaldo 13 in 51.
Not only does Messi have a better overall goals to games ration, his figures dwarf that of Ronaldo in the games he played at a similar age.
Against arguably Manchester United's two closest rivals, Chelsea and Liverpool, Ronaldo has scored only 4 goals in approaching 30 games. Messi has 4 in 5 against Real Madrid.
Make your own mind up. I know mine is.
These statistics are not meant as a tool to flog or criticise Cristiano Ronaldo, more to embrace the sublime, majestic ability of the greatest player on earth, Lionel Andres Messi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLW4DKoncvM&feature=related
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