Why it’s too soon to label Messi a great

OF all the countless tributes paid in recent years to the star player on a star-filled Barcelona team, we particularly liked the one The Guardian penned after he’d ripped the champions of England apart, so much so we’ll recite it here.

“He wears the number 10, that magic number graced by so many of the very greatest players. No one would say the style of Barcelona’s current genius directly resembles those of Puskas, Pele, Maradona or Zidane; only the end product is the same. Opponents are bewitched and bewildered, trying to predict which way he will spring. But even when they guess right, he can change his option in an instant. So far as one can tell, there has never been a player like him.”

There’s only one man, of course, Williams could possibly be talking about.