Double delight!
The history of world football is dotted with spectacular duos who worked in tandem to cast a spell on their opponents. While certain partnerships have gone a long way towards teams securing titles (Ronaldo-Rivaldo in Brazil’s 2002 WC triumph), there have been instances where fans thronged stadia in huge numbers just to catch their favourite pairs in action (Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp-Thierry Henry or AC Milan’s Ruud Gullit-Marco van Basten).
Now that the 2013-14 European season is just a fortnight away, the world can’t wait for the resumption of Spanish La Liga, which will unleash the mother of all pairings, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Neymar da Silva. The Spanish giants are seen by many as the greatest football assembly of all time. The signing of Neymar, arguably the current best player in South America, adds to an already star-studded firepower comprising two of the world’s top players, Messi and Andres Iniesta.
If one recreates an imaginary player-combination of similar stature in the past, it would be like a team featuring Brazil’s Pele, Portugal’s Eusebio and Northern Ireland’s George Best or having Argentina’s Diego Maradona, France’s Michel Platini and Italy’s Franco Baresi in the same side. No footballer in the world but Messi makes goalscoring look so easy. At 24, Messi became Barcelona’s all-time top scorer while barely a year later, he became the youngest player to net 200 La Liga goals. The first player to top-score in four consecutive Champions League campaigns, Messi has already carved a name for himself in the list of all-time greats.
Neymar too has earned the reputation of a ruthless finisher with silken skills and lightening speed. Though many find his playing style quite similar to that of Messi, former Barcelona and present Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola is convinced the two will combine to devastating effect. ‘Barca have always had some of the best players in the world at their disposal and Neymar and Messi are undoubtedly two of the best at the moment. I’m sure they will have no problem playing together,’ Guardiola said earlier this week.
While Barcelona fans would like Neymar to relieve Messi of some of the pressures and responsibilities and make him even more effective, there are sections which fear the combination might break down because of ego clashes. In this respect, a lot will depend on the way new manager Gerardo Martino handles the two iconic players. Since neither of the two can be a bench warmer, it would be interesting to see how Martino gets his combination right.
Whatever may be the case, Messi-Neymar pairing forms a strike force which most football lovers dream to watch. And come 18 August the dream will come true when Barcelona take on Levante in their opening La Liga encounter.
