By Juan Ignacio Pereyra Dec 1, 2009, 17:56 GMT
Buenos Aires - While a fair portion of Argentine media and fans slam Lionel Messi for his lacklustre performances in the national team shirt, the Barcelona striker was named European Footballer of the Year early Tuesday by France Football.
After leading Barça to a historic treble - with titles in La Liga, King's Cup and Champions League, - the young Argentine is reaping major recognition. He became the first Argentine to be awarded the Ballon d'Or, with more than double the points of second-placed Cristiano Ronaldo.
Argentina won two editions of the World Cup, in 1978 and 1986. The country has been prolific in talented players, most notably current national team coach Diego Maradona. None of them, however, ever won the prestigious Ballon d'Or.
Alfredo Di Stefano - who won the award in 1957 and 1959 - and Jorge Omar Sivori - 1956 - were both Argentine-born winners of the Ballon d'Or, but they got the award after becoming Spanish and Italian citizens, respectively.
Originally, only European players active in Europe were eligible for the Ballon d'Or, which has been awarded since 1956. That is probably the sole reason why Maradona never got the award, despite his fantastic years at Napoli, with two Scudettos, one Italian Cup, one UEFA Cup and one Italian Supercup 1984-91.
Since 1995, it is open to all players active in Europe, and France Football acknowledged Maradona's career performance with an honorary Golden Ball in 1996.
Messi, 22, is undoubtedly making it big in Europe, but he did not rise to professional football in an Argentine club. He joined Barcelona at age 13, and the Catalan club allowed him to overcome childhood growth problems and to rise to the top of world football.
In this context, he has no natural fan base in Argentina. Indeed, he is the only player in the history of the Argentine national team never to have played professionally in the South American country.
Other world-class players are also underperforming with Argentina, but Carlos Tevez and Fernando Gago have the support of Boca Juniors fans, Gonzalo Higuain and Javier Mascherano are backed by followers of River Plate, and Sergio Aguero remains an idol for Independiente.
In office and pub talk, many question Messi's love for and commitment to the national team shirt.
And yet national team players and coach alike back him and demand patience from fans, for Messi to show just how good he is for Argentina blue-and-white shirt too.
'In football terms Leo has got as far as his talent took him. He is a very humble boy, he listens. We should not ask him to win matches alone. Seeing his best level depends more on us than on him,' says Argentina team-mate Juan Sebastian Veron.
'He still cannot play (with Argentina) as with Barcelona. There, he dribbles and scores goals. Here he loses the ball and he never shoots on the goal. There, he plays simply. Here he feels forced to achieve a replica of his goal to Getafe every time he gets the ball. There, he enjoys himself. Here, he suffers,' Argentine sports journalist Juan Pablo Varsky wrote in the daily La Nacion.
The Barça star already won the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, where he got the awards as best player and top scorer.
The following year, he did not play in the World Cup quarterfinals in Germany, when Argentina were eliminated in the penalty shootout. That was where criticism started: the young striker watched the shootout from the bench without joining his team-mates.
Since Maradona retired, every young Argentine star has been compared to him. Javier Saviola, Juan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar - different as they are - were some of the players who suffered that pressure before Messi.
Maradona's best performances with Argentina came in Mexico 1986, when he was 25. That is of course an indication that Messi, at 22, still has time to conquer the hearts of his compatriots.
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