Lionel Messi has another trophy, much to the chagrin of some of his countrymen. Barcelona beat Argentinian club River Plate in the Club World Cup final with the help of Lionel Messi's first-half goal (the game ended 3-1).
HT: River Plate 0, Barcelona 1. Messi scores in his third straight Club World Cup Final as Barca lead at the break. https://t.co/iXSxCJPsi0
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 20, 2015River fans were less than pleased with this, as evidenced by an alleged incident in the Tokyo airport, in which a River Plate fan is reported to have spit on Messi, to which Messi is reported to have taken a swing at the guy before people got in-between them.
Given that River Plate is an Argentinian club, the fan was likely Argentinian. And, if he was Argentinian, he was likely a fan of the Argentinian national team.
River fans spat at Messi at the Tokyo airport. Suárez, Masche came to defend him. Disrespectful. pic.twitter.com/EMjFNSRBak
— ️️️️️️️jess (@cuIegirI) December 21, 2015So why would a fan of the Argentina national team (this is not, as we mentioned, a guarantee) spit at Lionel Messi, Argentina's best player since Diego Maradona?
Because, despite being the best player since Diego Maradona, and probably better than Maradona in terms of overal ability, Lionel Messi isn't Diego Maradona, which is to say he hasn't won the World Cup.
It would be irresponsible for us to group all Argentina national team fans into the category of Messi-haters, but the fact is, this group does exist. They watch Messi amass piles of trophies at Barcelona and assume he should be doing the same thing for his country.
It's not enough for them that Messi dragged a depleted roster with no central midfield to speak of to extra time of the World Cup final, or that he did the same thing in the Copa America, going all the way to penalties against Chile.
He was the only Argentina player to make his penalty.
Despite being a short man, Diego Maradona clearly casts a large shadow. In the monds of Argentina fans, there is only one way for Messi to get out of Maradona's shadow and stand on his own merits: win the World Cup.
The problem with this line of thinking is that soccer is played with 11, and no one person, not even Lionel Messi, can win a game all by himself. Not even if Argentina fans think he can.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
