5 reasons why Lionel Messi will be effective for 5 more years

#2 Technical proficiency means Messi can play the Xavi or Iniesta roles

Magnetic feet and stupefying finishing skills are not the only reason why Leo Messi is one of the GOATS of the game. He is excellent at finding space and being as evasive as a goddarn merlin.

Messi is no poacher or fox in the box who latches on parried loose balls. He scores just as well as he creates. Leo is not just good at finding space for himself, he offers the service of providing it to the players around him.

Messi is a great passer of the ball and has great positional awareness. Even if he loses a couple of yards of pace, he will only become identical to Iniesta. While you can't underplay the creative brilliance of the Spanish wizards, if Messi can't fill in their shoes, who can?

Messi is perhaps, the most effective when he is deployed as a false nine and that's essentially a more centralized role than anything else. Given his eye for the game and the awe-inspiring precision with which he executes all that is demanded of him, Leo should have no problem pulling the strings in midfield.

It'll just be Messi in fourth gear. But it's still Messi all the same.

Also read: 5 reasons behind Lionel Messi's incredible form this season

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Aakanksh Sanketh