Why Lionel Messi is still world class

The Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, was packed on 27 August 2023.

What would otherwise have been an unremarkable fixture between the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami, the 11th and 15th -placed sides in the Eastern Conference, had sold out weeks in advance. Messi Mania had gripped America and the MLS debut of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was the hottest ticket in town.

There were 26,276 people in attendance, watching, enraptured. But in the 89th minute, only one person spotted Benjamin Cremaschi making his move. And still, at age 36 and with little left to achieve in the game, there is only one man capable of executing the kind of pass Messi delivered to pick out his 18-year-old new teammate inside the penalty area.

There was a sense Messi’s career was winding down prior to his move to Miami in July. His tearful exit from Barcelona had given way to a tumultuous two years with Paris Saint- Germain. In Ligue 1, he remained productive and won back-to-back titles. Yet for pretty much the first time in his adult life, there was an acceptance that the Argentinian genius might no longer be the best footballer on the planet.

The 2022 World Cup temporarily dispelled doubts. Messi delivered one of the great campaigns, scoring seven goals and providing three assists to lead his nation to glory and fill the one remaining vacancy in his heaving trophy cabinet.

But with no worlds left to conquer and his PSG contract ending, the greatest career in football history looked destined to dissipate.

A return to Barcelona was teased and there was a mega-money offer to join his nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League. Messi instead chose Inter Miami, a club notable more for being part-owned by David Beckham than for any success on the pitch. Miami could offer a glamourous locale, a sultry climate and the reduced pressure of playing for the lowest-ranked side within, at best, the fourth most-popular sport in the country. Messi could collect a sizeable paycheque while slipping into semi-retirement.

But that hasn’t been the case. Whether spurred by the change of scenery or by the fact he receives a cut of the league’s broadcast revenue, he’s revelled in transforming this previously underperforming team. The Miami move has renewed his late-career purpose and redoubled his motivation. He has rediscovered his smile on the other side of the Atlantic.

Throughout his decade-and-a-half-long peak, Messi’s celestial game was characterised by consistent excellence and moments of jaw-dropping magic – the pin-point free-kicks, the goal conjuring through passes, the physics-defying dribbles.

Those moments were present during his time with PSG, but they were not as frequent. In Miami – where, granted, the competitive standard is lower – he is once again operating on an otherworldly plane. His has already inspired a Leagues Cup triumph and has set about turning Inter into play-off contenders. The moments of brilliance have been bountiful, with none more emblematic of the magic that remains in Messi’s boots than that pass.

He'd started the move himself, some 30 yards from goal. Possession soon returned to him, now inside the NYRB penalty area. With a sharp, stabbing turn he evaded a challenge. Then, with the outside of his gilded left foot, he threaded a pass between three defenders that met Cremaschi’s run perfectly. The teenager slid the ball back to Messi, who slotted home a simple finish.

The 26,276 crowd had gotten what they’d come to see, and Messi had seen it all before it happened.

There are few subjects that ignite debate among football fans like the matter of whether a player deserves the label 'world class'. These can grow heated due more to an unwitting semantic disparity rather than any disagreement on a footballer’s ability – everyone has their own definition of world class, their personal parameters; two people might be in complete agreement about a player’s skill level yet have very different ideas on what constitutes world class.

There are no such arguments over Messi, though. No matter how you define it, still, at 36, he is unquestionably world class.

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