With the arrival of Messi to the Paris Saint-Germain, there is the temptation to say that we are in the presence of the team with the most stars in the history of football. The Parisian cast, only on the offensive with Neymar–Mbappe And Messi himself, will he have three of the best five? footballers on the planet, but also reinforced all its lines by providing even free players (as in the case of Sergio Ramos, Wijnaldum and Donnarumma).
When we think of great teams that marked the history of this sport, we can talk about Ajax by Cruyff, Santos by Pelé, Milan by Arrigo Sacchi and his Catenaccio, Di Stéfano’s Madrid or Guardiola’s Barcelona, among so many others, although football as such underwent many modifications at various levels with the advance of globalization and the increase in inequalities between clubs, especially with private investment and the strong injection of capital from other productive sectors in the sport. This phenomenon has been increasing since the beginning of this century and catapulted previously inconsequential teams directly to the elite.
The truth is that the recurring comparison between this new PSG, forged in the heat of the Qatari capitals, is with the Galacticos of Real Madrid for a question of names; that team devised by Florentino Pérez Come in 2000 and 2006 that dazzled world football and marked an era in Madrid. Another football, of course: another price of players, less monetary inflow, passes made by eight figures at most compared to the nine that we see today by any promising player and who combined heavy weights in full as they were Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Figo, Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane, Michael Owen, Robinho and Sergio Ramos himself, among others.
It is difficult to establish a reliable comparison or some kind of objective parameter to be able to draw parallels between both teams, and more so in a team sport, but we are talking about a team that is remembered more than anything for his figures, because their legacy is much lower than the later stage, where Cristiano Ronaldo took back European hegemony and raised four UEFA champions league, with fewer names than in that historic team, which only raised one.
Regarding the arrival of Messi to PSG, it must be contextualized in relation to the squad made up of his teammates: Mbappe He is perhaps the best player in the world today, or at least the most destabilizing. Neymar He is one of the best and has the experience of meeting the Argentine. On the other hand, there are other players of whom we have a lot to say: Keylor Navas Y Gianluigi Donnarumma (recently champion of the Eurocup) are two of the best archers in the world, Sergio Ramos He inexplicably arrived at the club and it is still not understood how Madrid did not renew his contract, Hakimi He is a side that any team would like to have, Verratti Y Walls they are exponents of this era of PSG and an explanation of why the team started fighting in Europe, Wijnaldum It is a more than promising signing to contribute in the medium and also has names such as Say Maria (champion of America and great boost for the team), Draxler and Icardi, among others. All top players.
The main difference, however, is made by Messi himself. There is no player more decisive than him in the history of any club. The comparisons are hateful, but it is difficult to back something to someone who claims that he is the best exponent in the history of this sport. His appearance on that night of October 16, 2004 in the city derby against Espanyol began to change history. The Rosario scored the first goal of his 671 at the club in 778 official matches and won 35 titles. The Galactics, in the six years previously mentioned, numbered twelve, an average of two per year, a number similar to Messi himself, albeit for an extremely shorter period of time.
In addition, while the Galacticos changed figures and renewed themselves, Barcelona did too, with the exception that the only constant was the Argentine. According to the statistics published by MisterChipThere are two data that allow us to analyze the impact that Messi had on Barcelona: since his debut, Barcelona went from 61 to 96 titles; that is Messi was present in 36.4% of the total club titles. Or rather: a third of Barcelona’s history bears the name of Lionel Messi, which made him increase the number of titles at the club by 50% since his appearance. An overwhelming statistic.
On the other hand, Messi scored 671 goals and gave 267 assists, a number that places him as directly responsible for one in every eleven goals scored by Barcelona in its entire history.
Can Messi’s legacy be summarized in TWO data ??? It can. There they go … pic.twitter.com/zOwlhJelew
– MisterChip (Alexis) (@ 2010MisterChip) August 5, 2021
Not only is it difficult to find a player with so much influence in the game of his team for a constant period of time, but we are ignoring that the comparison is of Messi only against a whole team of figures that has changed over six years ( ten less than those that Messi stayed at the top and can continue to stay).
Although figures of great weight in terms of names marched through that Real Madrid, heto the evidence of Messi and his time in Barcelona place him above that era. The Rosario shared sixteen different teams in which he played and had him play, in addition to managing to position the Barcelona brand strongly in Europe. Since its appearance, the club reached five UEFA champions league in their cabinets, when before it had only one.
Of course, football is collective and you have to see how the stars of PSG mesh, but there is no point of comparison: the Galacticos did not have any out of series comparable to a Messi who was also constant (the most difficult in football ) and remained in the elite throughout his career, so the new PSG, with the figures he already had, those he added and Messi, is left with the arm wrestling. The fact of having the Argentine is a differential that greatly displaces that team and will seek to write a bigger story, in search of the Champions League that the team from the French capital is missing from the showcases.
The unknown is if Messi has already passed the best moment of his career and if the collective operation (and the management of a squad full of figures, among which there are other Argentines who know him and have been champions with him) will accompany him to seek the feat.