The 100 Greatest Soccer Players in the World Today | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

As criminal as it sounds, we have all become desensitized to Messi's brilliance at this point. Throughout his career, he has never fallen victim to our expectations; instead, he has consistently raised them. And you know what’s best? He’s done it all with the most exemplary display of humbleness and character that you could ever ask from an elite player.

Really, everything has already been said about Messi, which is why I'm only going to make one observation. In the Guardiola era, we have witnessed two versions of Messi: the current version (February 2010-present) and the previous version (March 2008-Ferurary 2010).

The 2008-10 version was my favorite to watch, when he largely operated from the wide right (instead of in the hole as he does now), which allowed him to attack the opposition from deeper positions. This was the most spectacular version of Messi, banging in goals after waltzing past multiple defenders and regularly leaving us speechless.

Now? We’re still speechless, but more as a result of his ridiculous goal/assist numbers than of his individual moments of brilliance. That’s not to say that he’s any less of a player, but the same thing happened to Cristiano Ronaldo between 2006 and 2008—there was a panache to his game that went into something of a remission as he became a greater goalscorer.

The difference was that the pre-2006 Ronaldo needed that to happen, because he was a high octane dribbler without a consistent end product (not to mention his transformation into a physical marvel in that period). The 2008-10 version of Messi already had that end product in his locker, but the current version is increasingly defined by it, at the expense of a certain level of duende that made him so special in the first place.

But you know what? Barcelona are currently breaking records for fun. In Messi, they have a player who can do anything offensively and always puts in a shift defensively, a phenomenal teammate, a player who will end up with historic goal/assist numbers and a chance to be remembered as the G.O.A.T. And as evidenced by his second goal in the Champions League semi final first leg, he still has the old Messi in him.  The transformation was ultimately for the best, because he is a better player now than at any point in his career.

Lionel Messi is the greatest player on the planet today, and as a fan of football, I couldn’t be happier.

FYI – If Messi carries on at this goalscoring pace, he has a chance of reaching 236 Barcelona goals by the end of next season, making him their all time leading scorer at 24 years of age.