MOMENTS after Barcelona put on a mesmeric display of possession football to win the Champions League last Saturday, a deflated Manchester United fan asked me: "Just how young is Lionel Messi?" Off the top of my head, I replied, "24". Flabbergasted, the fan said: "My god, he can rule Europe for at least another six years. How can Barca be beaten?"
It is a question very few football teams have an answer to. Man United, having suffered a dismal Champions League final loss against the same side two years ago, prepared for this final fastidiously, giving the impression that they spent hours devising a cunning plan.
It worked - for about 15 minutes. Crucially, they failed to score and, just like that, Barca's window of vulnerability slammed shut - and their superior brand of football took over.
Pass, run, pass, run, flick and shoot. Repeat until victory is assured. That Barca made this intricate whirlpool of ball and player movement seem so obvious - so natural - is their breathtaking gift to football fans.
Even Alex Ferguson knows it. Surely, the 1-3 defeat must sting as much as any of Man United's losses to archrivals Liverpool.
But he was uncharacteristically magnanimous, showering praise on the Barca team, saying: "We were beaten by the best team in Europe and there is no shame in that. "I would say they're the best team we've faced. Everyone acknowledges that and I accept that. It's not easy when you've been well beaten like that to think another way. No one has given us a hiding like that."
Judging from the resigned faces of not just the Man United players, but also their fans, the Scot spoke the painful truth.
So, Barca have entered the pantheon of great football teams. Their resident geniuses - led by Messi, but supported so ably by Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Pedro Rodriguez - will be mentioned in reverential tones whenever fans remember how they dismantled England's best team on May 28, 2011.
Where do they go now? What more after the pinnacle of playing football is scaled repeatedly, as they showed this season?
The big task is, of course, to sustain this spell of dominance. And one glance at Barca's bench should send shivers down any European football-club manager's spine.
Three of the substitutes - Bojan Krkic, Olazabal Paredes and Thiago - are under 21 years old, and are graduates of their youth academy, where their brilliant brand of football is being drilled into players as young as seven.
A fourth, 25-year-old Ibrahim Affelay, was a former Young Player of the Year in the Netherlands. All of them are capable of scaling the heights together with Messi for the next five or six years, just as Xavi (31 years old), Villa (29) and Iniesta (27) start to go downhill.
Man United have a formidable youth team, too, one that just won the FA Youth Cup. Yet, their ageing problem is far more acute, given that Edwin van der Sar (40) has retired, Paul Scholes (36) is contemplating the end and Ryan Giggs (37) cannot be called on to play every game.
So, Barca have a much- smoother succession path than any of their closest rivals - and certainly, it is far more palatable than the lavish spending antics of Chelsea or Manchester City. And Messi is the inexorable link through it all. As long as Barca have the Argentinian, they have a mercurial player who makes sense of all their passing intricacies by providing that all-important link to goal.
Whether he creates or scores, he somehow always finds a way past the most daunting defences. It is an exhilarating gift for someone so slight, so humble, so... young. I checked his age, and found out that I was wrong. Messi turns 24 only next month. -MYP
For more my paper stories click here.
It is a question very few football teams have an answer to. Man United, having suffered a dismal Champions League final loss against the same side two years ago, prepared for this final fastidiously, giving the impression that they spent hours devising a cunning plan.
It worked - for about 15 minutes. Crucially, they failed to score and, just like that, Barca's window of vulnerability slammed shut - and their superior brand of football took over.
Pass, run, pass, run, flick and shoot. Repeat until victory is assured. That Barca made this intricate whirlpool of ball and player movement seem so obvious - so natural - is their breathtaking gift to football fans.
Even Alex Ferguson knows it. Surely, the 1-3 defeat must sting as much as any of Man United's losses to archrivals Liverpool.
But he was uncharacteristically magnanimous, showering praise on the Barca team, saying: "We were beaten by the best team in Europe and there is no shame in that. "I would say they're the best team we've faced. Everyone acknowledges that and I accept that. It's not easy when you've been well beaten like that to think another way. No one has given us a hiding like that."
Judging from the resigned faces of not just the Man United players, but also their fans, the Scot spoke the painful truth.
So, Barca have entered the pantheon of great football teams. Their resident geniuses - led by Messi, but supported so ably by Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Pedro Rodriguez - will be mentioned in reverential tones whenever fans remember how they dismantled England's best team on May 28, 2011.
Where do they go now? What more after the pinnacle of playing football is scaled repeatedly, as they showed this season?
The big task is, of course, to sustain this spell of dominance. And one glance at Barca's bench should send shivers down any European football-club manager's spine.
Three of the substitutes - Bojan Krkic, Olazabal Paredes and Thiago - are under 21 years old, and are graduates of their youth academy, where their brilliant brand of football is being drilled into players as young as seven.
A fourth, 25-year-old Ibrahim Affelay, was a former Young Player of the Year in the Netherlands. All of them are capable of scaling the heights together with Messi for the next five or six years, just as Xavi (31 years old), Villa (29) and Iniesta (27) start to go downhill.
Man United have a formidable youth team, too, one that just won the FA Youth Cup. Yet, their ageing problem is far more acute, given that Edwin van der Sar (40) has retired, Paul Scholes (36) is contemplating the end and Ryan Giggs (37) cannot be called on to play every game.
So, Barca have a much- smoother succession path than any of their closest rivals - and certainly, it is far more palatable than the lavish spending antics of Chelsea or Manchester City. And Messi is the inexorable link through it all. As long as Barca have the Argentinian, they have a mercurial player who makes sense of all their passing intricacies by providing that all-important link to goal.
Whether he creates or scores, he somehow always finds a way past the most daunting defences. It is an exhilarating gift for someone so slight, so humble, so... young. I checked his age, and found out that I was wrong. Messi turns 24 only next month. -MYP
For more my paper stories click here.
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