5 Reasons why Lionel Messi is the Greatest Of All Time

#4. Underrated footballing intelligence and versatility

This whole dribbling and close-control, though, it does have one effect – overshadow everthing else that Messi does on the field. Yes, he may quite possible the most naturally gifted footballer of all time, but we’ve seen so many talented players spark to life and fizzle out almost instantaneously that to accredit Messi’s success to pure footballing talent alone would be not just be insulting to the hard work the man puts in day in and day out, but also factually wrong, and egregiously so.

When Pep Guardiola plucked him from the right wing and put him in the center of the field and asked him to stand toe-to-toe with burly centre-backs and midfield enforcers, the one thing the coach was relying on was his pupil’s ability to adapt, and use his intelligence to affect games. This is evident everytime you observe Messi – at times he seems disinterested, strolling along like it’s a Sunday morning jog on the beach, but it’s all part of the plan. Finding space, when there is precious little to go around with, is one of his important, and underrated attributes.

Take his Clasico winner yesterday for example -when Sergi Roberto goes on his power run and everyone else does so to keep up with him, Messi is still strolling. This means he goes undetected and when he runs onto the ball with a sudden spurt of pace, there is no one around him.

His passing has always been excellent, Xavi’s and Iniesta’s presence behind him masking the little man’s ability to put the ball on silver dime from anywhere on the pitch – most recently, like that magical pass to Andres Iniesta in Turin showed – his level of awareness, and ability to take advantage post analysing the scenarios (all in one split second) can take your breath away at times.