Football, before and after Messi

International football has lost its grandest experience, which was watching Lionel Messi. Time, grief and wear and tear took its inescapable toll on the Argentine, who announced his retirement on Monday through a post on Instagram. There is a sense of loss and mourning, because no one player has had such a vast impact on a major sport’s footprint as Messi. He scored goals, hatched assists, won trophies and honours, conquered glory and immortality. But most poignantly, he embodied the beauty in the beautiful game.

In 21 years at the pinnacle of the sport, he saw the game transform from the preserve of artistes to that shaped by athletes, the game getting brutally physical, the movements predetermined in the board-room. But Messi remained as he was when he first burst through — a shapeshifting genius immune to the changes around him. Roles, positions, and hairdos changed, but the magnificence of Messi’s game remained untarnished. He came closest to the sport’s ideal as anyone ever has. His genius was simple and uncomplicated, football with a frictionless lightness, a complicated game made to look ridiculously simple, a task of merely finding angles and spaces, precision and perfection, of brush-stroking the ball with a swish of his left foot to the back of the net.

Whether he is the greatest of all time is a meaningless debate. Only Messi could measure Messi or gauge the true depth of his gifts. The two men who could have arguably judged his greatness are dead, Pele and Diego Maradona. The scale of measurable achievements would not capture the scale of immeasurable experience that was watching Messi. International football, after Messi’s departure, will be a less pleasurable feast.

Overall Analysis

The editorial is a tribute to Lionel Messi and reflects on how international football will change after his retirement. Unlike a conventional sports report that focuses mainly on statistics, the writer takes a literary and emotional approach, presenting Messi not simply as a successful footballer but as someone who represented the beauty and artistry of football.

The opening immediately establishes a sense of loss and mourning. The phrase “international football has lost its grandest experience” is deliberately dramatic. The writer goes beyond Messi’s goals, assists and trophies and argues that his greatest contribution was that he “embodied the beauty in the beautiful game.” This is an example of figurative and evocative language, transforming a sporting achievement into an emotional experience.

The second paragraph contrasts the evolution of football with Messi’s consistency. The game changed from being dominated by artistic players to becoming increasingly physical, tactical and commercially planned. Words such as “athletes,” “brutally physical,” and “predetermined in the board-room” create an image of modern football becoming more structured and mechanical. Against this background, Messi is presented as a “shapeshifting genius” who remained untouched by these changes.

The writer then uses a series of beautiful metaphors to describe Messi’s playing style. “Frictionless lightness,” “finding angles and spaces,” and “brush-stroking the ball” make football sound almost like an art form. The sentence “a complicated game made to look ridiculously simple” captures the central paradox of Messi’s genius: extraordinary skill appeared effortless when he performed it.

The third paragraph rejects the usual “greatest of all time” debate. The writer argues that statistics and trophies cannot measure the emotional and aesthetic experience of watching Messi play. The line “Only Messi could measure Messi” is deliberately poetic and hyperbolic. Mentioning Pelé and Diego Maradona strengthens the sense that Messi belongs to an almost incomparable category of sporting greatness.

The final sentence — “International football, after Messi’s departure, will be a less pleasurable feast” — provides a powerful metaphorical conclusion. Football is compared to a feast, and Messi’s absence means that something extraordinary has been removed from it.

Overall, the editorial is less about Messi’s retirement as an event and more about what football loses when an artist of his uniqueness leaves the stage. Its strength lies in its imagery, metaphors, contrasts and emotionally charged vocabulary.

📚 Important Vocabulary – 5

1. Inescapable – impossible to avoid or prevent.
2. Poignantly – in a way that strongly affects emotions, especially sadness or sympathy.
3. Preserve – a particular group or area that is mainly associated with or controlled by certain people.
4. Untarnished – not damaged, spoiled or diminished in quality or reputation.
5. Immeasurable – too great or extensive to be measured or calculated.

Conclusion & Tone

The editorial argues that Messi’s departure is not merely the retirement of a great footballer; it marks the loss of an extraordinary artistic experience from international football. His statistics establish his greatness, but according to the writer, his true legacy lies in the beauty and simplicity with which he played the game.

Tone: Nostalgic, admiring, emotional and celebratory.

Key language takeaway: This editorial is an excellent example of literary sports writing. Instead of simply stating that Messi was great, the writer uses metaphors, imagery, contrasts and emotional language to make the reader feel his greatness.