LIONEL Messi’s 643rd competitive goal for Barcelona should not have been something as banal as a penalty.
And so the Valencia keeper saved his kick on Saturday, allowing the ball to be played back in for Messi to score at the far post with a close range header – a more fittingly unusual way of celebrating a milestone.
Lionel Messi scored his 643 goal for Barcelona against Valencia Credit: Reuters
Messi has now equalled Pele’s record for the amount of goals scored for one team in competitive matches.
Pele managed 643 for Santos in his native Brazil between 1956 and 1974. Messi has spent a decade and a half matching his achievement in Catalonia.
It is a mistake to judge the greatness of players of this calibre just by statistics. If football was just numbers then it would be bingo.
Pele’s advocates do him few favours by harping on about the more than 1000 goals that he scored – even if friendly matches back then were frequently given much more importance than they are today.
His genius emerged in the way that, time after time, he stepped up on the big occasions – from the World Cup quarter final against Wales back in 1958, when up in the stands the 1938 idol Leonidas was demanding on radio that he be dropped from the team, all the way to Mexico 70, with plenty of high points in between.
From the perspective of today, many of Pele’s competitive goals for Santos may not look like big occasions.
The majority came in a local competition, the championship of Sao Paulo state.
While there were quick national tournaments from the late 50s, a genuine Brazilian Championship did not get underway until 1971, just too late to see Pele at his best.
Messi heads home against Valencia after initially missing his penaltyCredit: AFP or licensors
A scoreboard congratulates Messi’s remarkable achievement that matches Pele’s goalscoring recordCredit: Reuters
Context, though, is key. Brazil is huge – a country the size of a continent. Sao Paulo is one of 27 states that make up Brazil – and, with Rio de Janeiro, it is the traditional stronghold of the Brazilian game.
In Pele’s day, Brazilian football was not an export industry – as the presence of Pele proves. Almost all of the best Brazilian players earned their living in Brazil, along with some big names from other South American countries.
The likes of Corinthians, Palmeiras, Sao Paulo and some of the other clubs could count on team line ups at least as strong as many of the opponents Messi has faced in La Liga.
And if it is all too easy to see the past from today’s perspective and under-value the achievements of Pele, then it is entirely possible that something similar might happen to Messi.
Let’s fast forward a few decades and imagine that the big clubs have managed to force through their dream of a European Super-League. There will be regular clashes between the giant clubs, which will be judged as the supreme test of quality.
From that point of view, many of the national leagues may come to be seen as largely irrelevant to the pursuit of true greatness – much as people today tend to look back on the domestic achievements of Pele.
The pundits of 2060 may be quick to dismiss the importance of Messi’s goals against the likes of Levante and Getafe.
Pele’s goalscoring record is often undervalued by punditsCredit: Rex Features
Let’s fast forward a few decades and imagine that the big clubs have managed to force through their dream of a European Super-League. There will be regular clashes between the giant clubs, which will be judged as the supreme test of quality.
From that point of view, many of the national leagues may come to be seen as largely irrelevant to the pursuit of true greatness – much as people today tend to look back on the domestic achievements of Pele.
The pundits of 2060 may be quick to dismiss the importance of Messi’s goals against the likes of Levante and Getafe.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
