Messi one step from undisputed greatness

Argentina’s Lionel Messi will never have a better opportunity to prove he is one of the greatest players of all time than in Sunday’s World Cup final against Germany. For all the breath-taking goals and teeming towers of silverware he has accumulated with Barcelona, it is in the World Cup final that the true greats confirm their legacies. From a 17-year-old Pele in 1958 to Andres Iniesta in 2010, via Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, and Ronaldo, football’s biggest personalities have bent the sport’s biggest occasion to their will. Messi’s record-breaking brilliance over the last six seasons at Camp Nou cannot be understated, but until he wins the World Cup, he will never fully stand the comparisons. In the words of Roberto Rivellino, one of the stars of Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning side: ‘If Argentina win, he’ll be up there with Pele and Maradona, no doubt.’ Maradona, in particular, was defined by his World Cup performances and at 27, Messi could not ask for a more perfect chance to emulate his predecessor in the sky-blue and white number 10 shirt, according to AFP.