How to read Messi
ToggleWith Messi back in the headlines, to understand the player we need to pay attention to the narratives around his persona, career and soccer culture in Argentina, writes Dr David Conlon, Spanish and Latin American Studies, School of Modern Languages
In one sense, this was not new and Messi's highlights reels have always featured plenty of Maradona moments. The 2022 edition Messi was different, though, because he directed taunts at opponents in some clips. This was very much in the spirit of Maradona (who was noted for his ability to coin insults), but out of character for Messi.
But it was these moments that caught the public imagination in Argentina, where there has in the past been a reluctance to fully embrace Messi as truly 'Argentine.’ To understand the dynamics at play, it helps to know something about the wider narratives that surround Messi’s own career and footballing culture in Argentina.
Messi tends to avoid off-field controversy. When questioned about his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, he always responds that he prefers to do his talking on the pitch. But this attitude is viewed with suspicion in Argentina, a country with two co-existing footballing identities: Menottismo, the love for the beautiful game epitomised by the philosophy of César Luis Menotti, who coached the national side to World Cup glory in 1978, and Bilardismo, after the more Machiavellian approach of 1986 coach Carlos Bilardo.
While Maradona was a product of both schools, Messi always appeared to lack a Bilardista edge. Famously, Maradona was once caught on a hot mic declaring that Messi had 'no personality.' This sentiment was not uncommon among Argentinian supporters, who tended to view Messi as a ‘pecho frío’ (literally, a ‘cold chest’) who had failed to deliver for the national team, in terms of silverware, but also in terms of passion.
Messi must have perceived this as a problem and signalled a shift in the narrative in 2019 when, unusually for him, he started to sing the Argentine national anthem before international games. He delivered an uncharacteristically stirring pep talk on camera in the dressing room in advance of the 2021 Copa América final, which Argentina then won, ending a decades-long drought. It has even been claimed that Messi deliberately started to use more Argentine slang in post-match interviews during the same period.
This new, more verbal Messi came to the fore in Qatar. After a fractious game against the Netherlands, his uncharacteristically blunt remark towards Dutch forward Wout Weghorst – '¿Qué mirás, bobo?' (what are you looking at, fool?) – quickly passed into lore in Argentina, where it has inspired graffiti, t-shirts, and other merchandise.
A more significant moment occurred earlier during the game. Following his customary goal celebration, Messi faced in the direction of the Dutch dugout and cupped both hands behind his ears. In the days leading up to the game, Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal had made statements that undermined Messi’s style of play and had now, presumably, been ‘silenced.’
But there were further layers to Messi’s taunting of Van Gaal. The gesture was immediately recognised by his compatriots as an homage to Argentine ex-footballer Juan Ramón Riquelme, who had used the same gesture 20 years earlier at Boca Juniors. Riquelme’s meteoric rise was later derailed by Van Gaal, who was manager at Barcelona when Riquelme arrived there in 2002. Van Gaal believed that Riquelme was too much of an ‘individual’ to fit in with his more system-oriented approach.
This was loosely the same criticism that Van Gaal later directed at winger Ángel Di María when both were at Manchester United in 2014, and again at Messi in Qatar. Messi's taunt could therefore be read as part of a decades-old beef with the Dutch coach involving multiple Argentine players.
Some even saw a potential Europe versus Latin America narrative, fuelled by old stereotypes pitting European efficiency against Latin American individual flair. Versions of this intercontinental tension surfaced elsewhere in Qatar, such as when the Brazilian side’s goal celebrations were perceived as too exuberant by European pundits (angering commenters in Brazil). It occured again when French forward Kylian Mbappé suggested that football in Latin American was less advanced than in Europe.
Messi’s own move to Barcelona at the age of 13 was a symptom of the wealth disparity between the two continents, and Argentina’s eventual victory in Qatar marked the first time the competition has been won by a Latin American side since 2002. Maradona, of course, had once engaged in similarly politicised feuding when he claimed that his ‘hand of God’ goal against England was retribution for the Malvinas conflict with the UK. The bigger picture here, perhaps, is that all roads lead back to European colonialism and its continued legacy in the Americas, which has never really gone away and to which football has not been immune.
Whether Messi’s renewed attentiveness to his persona had a material impact on the field is another matter. Many of his teammates spoke of an unprecedented levels of team morale and even of a sense of destiny being fulfilled. Others mentioned the galvanising effect of the siege mentality that was created by the narratives that were swirling around in Qatar. Narratives do sometimes have the power to sway real events, and Messi seems to have grasped that crucial lesson when it mattered.
This article originally appeared on RTE Brainstorm.