Why Lionel Messi is the ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ of Football

Ahead of Messi’s 3rd Champions League final, a comparison between the Barca star and cricket legend Tendulkar.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi scores his penalty goal against Getafe during their Spanish first division soccer match at Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona. (Photo: Reuters) 

It is easy to proclaim today that the greatest footballer of our times, Lionel Messi was always destined for greatness. In the last decade, the Argentine sensation has not only been the best in the world, but also appears to have had a sanitised Tendulkar-esque life.

While Cristiano Ronaldo has the GQ shoots and the Victoria’s Secret model for a girlfriend, Pele has an ego the size of Alpha Centauri and Maradona had cocaine, for Messi...it’s football and only football.

In other respects too, they are similar. Both Messi and Tendulkar are supremely talented, but not as athletic as their peers in their respective games.

In case the anecdotes don’t seem convincing enough, then see the statistics that implies the same: Lionel Messi is Impossible.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (R) is chased by Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo during their “Classico” soccer match at Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona. (Photo: Reuters)

Athletic Abilities

It is not hard to imagine Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo winning tackles as a running back in American Football or cricketer AB de Villiers sweating it out on a football pitch. In fact, Usain Bolt could probably play any sport with his level of fitness and Michael Schumacher used to play football for a Swiss club.

But just like Sachin, Messi too has always seemed as if he were meant for only one sport. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Just How Crucial Were They to Their Teams?

While some may claim that the Catalan star could be the greatest in the history of club football, he has not had the same success representing his country.

Critics have often said of Messi that it was his FC Barcelona teammates Xavi and Iniesta, who paved the road to glory for him. With Sachin too, critics said often that his centuries came in losing causes.

But Leo’s brilliance cannot simply be put down to the men who pass the ball to him at Barca. And neither can one just dismiss Sachin’s 100 tons because the team may have lost matches when he scored big.

Messi (R) takes a free kick in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup against the Netherlands. (Photo: Reuters)

As the Catalans prepare to take on the brutal Italian force – Juventus FC in this year’s UEFA Champions League final, what mind-bending display of genius can we expect of Lionel Messi as he takes centerstage at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Saturday? If his sublime opening goal of the Copa del Rey is anything to go by, we are in for a tantalizing performance.