I myself, as a huge Messi fan relate to this somewhat. When I saw Messi play as a kid, I thought he was an anomaly. A superhero of sorts. It was too obvious he wasn’t like the other players. Just by looking at him, I knew instantly that what he was doing could not be learned or copied. One doesn’t simply try to walk through hordes of defenders without getting tackled.

Which is why, Neymar was the first player I actually wanted to copy and play like. Neymar is a showman, a crowd pleaser. And he did tricks that could be learned and practised. And it worked. Ever since I saw Neymar, I kept kept practising the elastico and his signature trap.

Which is why players probably look up to Ronaldo more, because you can at least make a half decent attempt at what he does through sheer dedication and hardwork.

Germany 2014 takes this. Spain’s midfield was better but had pretty poor goal scoring. Germany was like a machine. With an excellent bench as well. They didn’t have a single weakness in that team.

GK- Neuer

RB- Dani Alves

CB- Mascherano

CB- Maldini

LB- R. Carlos

CM- Rakitic

CM- Kaka

CM- Ozil

RW- Messi

ST- Ronaldo9

LW- Neymar Jr.