Sir Bobby Charlton speaking about Lionel Messi

Question
Are you excited the Laureus World Sports Awards are coming to London this year?

Bobby Charlton
London is a great city and when it was awarded the Olympic Games I thought you’re guaranteed a good time because people in London will be fantastic. And of course now Laureus have decided to have the Awards there this year which will make it particularly interesting as well.

Question
Lionel Messi is nominated for the third time. What are your impressions of him?

Bobby Charlton
Lionel Messi, in Zurich at FIFA last week, was awarded for the third time the greatest footballer of the world [award]. That’s voted by very, very prominent and important journalists, so that is just something really extraordinary. He’s a tiny little player, but I don’t know if it’s his low body weight, but he seems to be able to stay on his feet when everybody around him seems to be falling. And some of the goals that he’s scoring are so exciting. And there are goals where he doesn’t really need much help either. And I think he’s just a sensational little player and Argentina should be very happy that he’s Argentinian. He’s got an awareness and he knows when people are trying to stop him and trying to kick him and he seems to be able to read it just that
instant before it actually happens that he gets hit. But if he gets hit he still stays on his feet if he can. He doesn’t dive. He stays on his feet and I find in Argentina that that’s general. That they’re tough players and they’re hard as nails, but they won’t dive. He’s just a wonderful player.

Question
Of course, he is only 24, but what kind of players would you put him in the same class as?

Bobby Charlton
I think now he’s probably done more than most players. But [he is in the same class as] Alfredo de Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Pelé. When he finishes and he retires, he will automatically become one of them. [A player] that people will talk about forever, while the game of football is as good and as popular as it is. He is a sensational player.
He’s an instinctive goalscorer. He can’t help it. He’s instinctive. As soon as he gets within range you can see his brain working. If he can, he likes to get it on his left foot. When the ball comes to him, the first thing he thinks about is can I score? And then if I can score what do I have to do to actually score? Do I use my left foot? Do I use my right foot? Am I balanced properly? And you can see these things working in his mind and eventually he makes his mind up and he finishes off by some dramatic goals. He’s just a sensational, sensational player. And he’s Argentinian which means you’ve got to be tough because there’s some battles when you go to Argentina and you see some of the club football or you see some of the South American games that are played. It’s so physical. You see Maradona was the same. He could ride tackles. And Messi is the same. He focuses as soon as he gets the ball anywhere within range of the goal. And he doesn’t need help. He does it on his own.

Question
How much help do you think he gets by being in a very good Barcelona team? Would he be as good playing for Manchester United or for another top club?

Bobby Charlton
He’d be great for anybody. He would be great playing for anyone. I doubt very much whether anybody will ever prize him away from Barcelona, but if they could they are getting the best player in the world which is there for all to see. And he is just a wonderful, wonderful player. And an exciting player. It gets you on the edge of your seat when he gets the ball and you think, right, what’s he going to do now? And often it’s not what you think. He’ll change direction. He’s got this low body weight. He can stay on his feet for ages and people can be hitting him and kicking him and trying to trip him and it doesn’t work. He’s just got this gift. Maradona is the only one I can compare him with.

Question
You played with George Best. How would you compare him to Messi?

Bobby Charlton
George Best [played] many, many years ago. I tell the story of when he came into the team directly from the reserves and from the youth team. The first time I ever saw him play, he humiliated one of my best friends in football. It was right-back John Angus from Burnley and George knocked the ball through his legs and came round and tried to do it again. The fans loved him because they can’t do things like that. They could only dream about it. And it’s the same with these great South American players of Messi, Maradona and Pelé, but George Best was up there with them all. Unfortunately he played for Northern Ireland and never was seen on the world stage in a World Cup which was a great tragedy for the people that actually like watching football and good footballers.

Question
What can you say about Barcelona as a team? They are nominated for Laureus World Team of the Year.

Bobby Charlton
Barcelona have Messi and they’re very fortunate to have Messi. He’s a great player. But they also have an unbelievable group of artistic players in the middle of the field. Iniesta and Xavi. They have a philosophy that they’ve got and unfortunately for the rest of us, they [have the] good players as well to actually make it happen. Iniesta, Xavi, two of the most creative midfield players you could ever wish for. But also they’ve got a passing system of play and everyone’s expected to do it. Some do it better than others. But, nevertheless, it’s a very consistent football team that goes out [to play] if it’s got Barcelona’s name alongside it. Even when I was watching them [Iniesta and Xavi] when they were 16, 17, they were just sensational. They have had a concentration of really, really great players and that’s why Barcelona are the success that they are at the moment. And it’s going to continue. We at this club (Manchester United) will try very hard and we will improve, but they are just one of the great teams there’s ever been. I mean three years running Messi has been the FIFA Footballer of the Year. And Barcelona have been the football team of the year. And they have greatness and it’s come because they had a good system and the good system meant that it could easily work if you had good players. And they had the good players. It’s great.

Question
Are they better than the Real Madrid of Alfredo di Stefano? Better than the Ajax of Cruyff?

Bobby Charlton
I think with the young players certainly. I think that when Real Madrid were at their peak, you had Puskas, you had Hento, you had di Stefano, Great players. But they didn’t have this backlog that they’ve got of unbelievably young, young players. And Barcelona will take some stopping, but it will happen. I hope it’s us (Manchester United) that does it. But it will happen.

credit is Sir Bobby Charlton speaking to the Laureus website, www.laureus.com