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Posted 06/04/10 21:25
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Back in February when Wayne Rooney had scored twice in Milan, the Daily Mail 'experts' all created their list of the best players in the world. Toppermost of the poppermost in most lists was Englishman Wayne Rooney - hardly surprising among those who work for a newspaper that blames all Britain's ills on asylum seekers, single parents and homosexuals.
Mind you, this was the newspaper that used the typically ignorant headline 'The best players of the world (and Xavi): Ronaldo crowned king of football' only last year. Yes, the Xavi who had been the heartbeat of a Spain side recently crowned champions of Europe. Yes, possibly the best central midfielder in the world.
We would like to see those same 'experts' make their lists again as Lionel Messi produces the kind of 'ridiculous' (Thierry Henry's word of choice) form that cannot simply be ignored on the grounds that he's suspiciously small, foreign-looking and for some inexplicable reason shows no interest in playing in glorious Blighty.
We have all seen those Messi v Rooney newspaper graphics this season in which British sports journalists cherry-pick statistics that prove 'our Wayne' is the best player in the world. Look at him - he's so big and strong and he scores more headers than that little Argie fella, that's for sure.
Sod the statistics (they mostly fall in favour of Messi anyway) and sod the superlatives - if you watched him against Stuttgart, or Valencia, or Real Zaragoza or now Arsenal, there's no point insulting your intelligence by trying to capture his talent in mere words.
He's simply the best player of his generation - that's all you need to know. Frankly, if you still think Rooney is a better footballer, you're either a member of the Rooney family or some kind of xenophobic revisionist who will always favour a pasty face.
The rest of us - including Arsenal fans who should feel no shame in defeat - cannot help but admire him. The best footballer in the world and he doesn't even appear to be a c**k? Bonus.
Sarah Winterburn
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