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By many people’s logic, Mario Gomez is now the second-best player in the world, since apparently all it takes is several goals in a Champions League match against an under-gunned opponent at home to warrant such a coronation. With his second-leg performance, Gomez became the first German player to score four in a Champions League match, and only the eighth man in recorded football history to achieve the feat. And since Basel was the side to knock out United in the the group stage, this puts Gomez ahead of Wayne Rooney and Chicharito as well, right?
Clearly I’m being somewhat facetious, and of course Messi has done much more than just score a bunch of goals in a Champions League game, but hopefully Munich’s 7-0 humiliation of Basel (who I was rooting for!) proves a valuable point: football is a cruel and fickle sport, where on any given day a team is capable of playing well above or below their normal capabilities. Five goals in a game that’s already a landslide doesn’t prove much. Rather, it’s an entire career, and more specifically, making huge plays in crucial games, that really determine the status of “legend.”
With that said, my colleague Alan Dymock said it well: “Ok, I’ll admit it: during the week I got a little carried away when Messi scored a record amount of goals.” And he said (or wrote) it even better when he explained: “We do not need one person as the best, folks. There are no World records with skill. There is no tax on beauty. Every context is different and every Legend offers something sublime.”
And speaking of legends…
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