-Suresh Ediga
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It's a Messi situation
He is probably one of the greatest to have ever taken to the football field, one of the greatest to ever have touched the ball, dribbled the ball, passed the ball, shot the ball and above all the greatest ever goal scorer.
But greatness came at a heavy cost

At the age of 7-8, he was diagnosed with a growth-hormone deficiency, the treatment of which was expensive.
At the age of 13, Messi left his home country, Argentina, to play in for Barca (FC Barcelona) in Spain

FC Barcelona had also agreed to pay for an expensive growth-hormone treatment that Messi needed.
Messi, also left his three siblings and his mother, while his father accompanied him to Spain
At the age of 17 he scored his first goal for FC Barcelona.
He scored the first hattrick at the age of 19.

FC Barcelona was the only club he ever played for until 2021 when they both separated.
Messi in his very early days for playing for the Argentine national team, had to unlearn and learn.
In his first game for Argentina, he was shown a red card, in just 5 minutes.

If European (Spain) football was all about organized play, South American (Argentine) football was all about creativity and was anything but organized. If you lose the ball to the opponent you have to win it back.
Despite leading the national team to world cup finals in 2014, taking the national team to several Copa America cup finals, the lack of a major international championship cup, has earned Messi a great deal of critics back home in the football frenzy nation.
His effigies were burnt, he was accused of being an immigrant, being European, being Spanish but not an Argentine. After losing the Copa America finals in 2016, he even quit the National team. The agony, the pain, the constant scrutiny despite having done so much, it was just too much for Messi. But Messi came back in 2018 and led the team to the world cup finals when they were on the verge of failing to qualify.

In 2021, Messi led the team to win the Copa America cup.
Now, here in 2022, Messi has taken the team to yet another world cup final.
The sheer joy he brings to all those watching this 90 minute, sometimes exhilarating and sometimes not so, dance of the feet is unparalleled and second to none. The dipping free kicks to the extreme corners evading the high flying and outstretched goalkeepers, the little nudges through the legs, the swirls, the twists, the jerks, the sudden bursts outrunning everyone else.

It's a 90 minute love affair with the football where the football feels secure with Messi, doesn't want to leave him no matter what, until they both reach the final destination - the goal. And even when he does pass the ball, he does with meticulous accuracy, it's as If he doesn't want the football to feel bad that he was letting it go - the player receiving it does so without slowing down, without changing direction and without interrupting his play.
As they say, "Football owes Messi the world cup", for all that he has done for the game and continues to do so every single occasion he takes to the field for yet another display of love and dance with the football, a situation that only Messi can create because it is a Messi situation.