For those who are lucky enough to be considered geniuses, actual geniuses, and not the prostituted use of the word we see daily nowadays, the gift always (if not very often) comes with a certain degree of curse. The highly intelligent, for the way they get to see the world alone, will always show some sort of behavior that does fall under normalcy. But people forget a true genius has nothing normal about him. Flaws are not only present, but should be expected.

That goes for any field of work, but let’s see how the actual football geniuses behaved throughout the decades:

Di Stefano, the first big star in world football, was the crankiest individual you could have come across. Hard as nails on the pitch, be it with his own team mates, whom he ordered on the pitch like a General, or with the adversaries, whom he fought throughout the whole pitch to get the ball. He wasn’t easy going, and was especially tough on younger players. “You have to sweat a lot to earn this shirt”, he once said to a newcomer. The desire to win and succeed, however, was very clear on all his actions.

Garrincha, my favorite brazilian of all time, was an alcoholic who wanted nothing more than to be away from the spotlight and just play and drink with his childhood friends from Pau Grande. He wasn’t a rose on the pitch, either. Was even sent off on the 1962 World Cup semi-final (the World Cup he won by himself while Pelé was injured), and only played (and scored and won) the final because the Brazilian FA figured a maneuver out (as they always do).

Pelé himself, with his 1286 goals and 100 matches/season and 3 World Cups, was not a knight in shining armor. The man has presented several flaws during his life (fought his own daughter on the courts for 5 years, denying he was her father, then refusing to pay any kind of pension after DNA proved him wrong…), but was also hard to play against. Used his elbow frequently, argued constantly, sweared. Always showing his desire to win, of course. But not being the symbol of Fair Play he paints himself as now.

Johan Cruijff was football’s first rebel. The hair, the photo shoots, the opinions (not going to the 1978 World Cup because it was gonna be held on the dictatorial Argentina), the way he used his superior intelligence on the pitch. The man who invented the Cruijff Penalty was never gonna be a conformist. Always thinking out of the box, always seeing what was happening on the pitch clearly and pointing his team mates where to go, what to fix. A leader, that besides his flaws and the polemics around him, wanted to win and thrive more than anything.

Diego Armando Maradona. To most the most technically gifted player ever seen. Also, the biggest troublemaker and loudmouth you could think of. I could write a book (as I’m sure dozens of people already have) on all the off the pitch issues Diego has been part of from his teenage years at Argentinos Juniors  until… yesterday. But that has never stopped him from being considered one of the all-time greats, the biggest Argentine symbol, and to having a church for his followers back home. The genius is always valued higher than his flaws.

Romário is the best striker I have been blessed to witness. The goals I’ve seen him score from 1994 until 2008, from his 1994 World Cup until his last few years in Brazil will always stay with me. As will the fights (the man punched Diego Simeone!), the parties (even though he does not drink), the women, the beefs (“Pelé is a poet with his mouth shut), his semi-professionalism (“Had I trained harder and taken the game more seriously, I would have had more titles. But I wouldn’t have been as happy as I was and am nowadays”). Romário is the only player I know that has a song about him that says: “Why train every day, if I already know what I need to do?”. All of that extra stuff has not taken anything away from his genius, his unique traits as one of the most prolific goalscorers football has ever seen.

Eric Cantona. Period.

Ronaldo Nazário de Lima. The Phenomenon. The most technically gifted 9 you could have asked for. The man who restarted his career not once, but twice, after serious knee problems. Lost a World Cup final after having a seizure, than 4 years later came back (after 2 years without playing football due to injury) and scored 2 goals in the final to finally lift it as the star (in 1994 he didn’t play a single minute). But he drank. Smoked. Was caught with two women inside the Camp Nou once (and years later was caught with two transvestites in Rio, and even though he admitted to it, has managed to have the press basically never mention this happened…). Several failed marriages. Played overweight for most of his career after 2002.
But, besides all of that, besides not being an actual athlete after his World Cup glory, is considered one of the all-time greats. As he should. A genius.

I could go on, and on, and on. Mention Rivaldo and his need to convert players into his religion, Ronaldinho and his 2 years of partying and sleeping in massage tables instead of training, Francesco Totti and his violent outbursts. But you caught the idea.

There’s a price for getting to have a genius player. And the best player in history isn’t different.

Messi does not party. He likes to stay at home and play his PlayStation, and spend time with his son. He does not make ads constantly, or takes his shirt off after scoring useless goals so the film crew of his documentary gets a nice shot. He does not dive. He is generous with his team mates and always gives the assist, even though the only one seeing the passing lane is him. Has had a physio following him around every day, including during his vacations, since 2008. Has changed his diet so injuries would happen rarely. And even though the press (from Madrid) tries to paint him as someone who pushes players from his team, is always being called a great friend and player from “enemies” like Ibra, Villa and Alexis (I won’t even address the Tello rumors).

Lionel, however, does have flaws. He does not talk to the press in general (which doesn’t really bother me), he detests being on the bench, and wants to play every single match until it ends.

And that’s it. Two lines. Two lines of flaws Messi has shown us throughout his career. And in those two lines, you can see his biggest crime is wanting to be able to help the team win, at all times. He wants to make sure that, even though we may end up losing, he gave his all to avoid that.

Now that an arrogant and prepotent (and title-less) coach like Luis Enrique, who has arrived at the biggest club in the world thinking he is gonna be the “boss” of the squad that has had more winner’s medal than anyone else on the last decade, without actually showing traits of being a leader, people have started to see Messi as the bad guy. As the dictator. As someone who is hard to deal with.

Luis Enrique does not have issues only with Messi. He is distant from the dressing room, and prefers sending the shrink or one of his other assistant to talk to players. He has punished Martin Montoya extremely harshly and didn’t use him for almost 3 months because the player said he didn’t agree with him (and now that he needs Montoya, 3 starts in a row…). And I won’t even go into Lucho’s treatment of the press. The disdainful look he displays at all times is enough. The man hasn’t realized he isn’t talking to the journalists when he is talking about FCB. He is talking to us, the fans, to whom he owes explanations.

So we have the best player alive, who wants to win at all times and play all the matches, being coached by an egotistical man who thinks he is gonna bark orders and have some of the best players in world football obey blindly. How on Earth was this gonna end well? A leader earns people’s confidence. He leads them by example, by listening to them, by being present. By showing he cares. And Luis Enrique simply does not.

The best coaches, those who actually get to be called world class, are all leaders. Players respect them, listen to them, die for them. That is the one basic trait you need to succeed. When you don’t have that, can’t perform as a tactician and let your players know 90 minutes before a match at the Bernabeu how they are going to play, well…

The fact is: Messi does have flaws. He’s divine, but still a human being. But those flaws show his winning mentality and his wish to see the team win. He could be as laid back as Romário, for instance. But he isn’t. He’s a true athlete, a real sportsman and someone who has proven to work wonderfully under a real leader. Until we have that again, remember that genius has a price, but it is way less expensive than the price of arrogance and ineptitude.