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He is undoubtedly the best player in the world, not only by FIFA ranking but by the rankings of all football lovers worldwide. His name is Lionel Andrés Messi.

At just 22 years, the Argentine striker/winger is the current ballon d’or and FIFA world player of the year, and I don’t see him handing over the crown to anybody else in the nearest future.

It’s not surprising that he started playing for his first club Grandoli at the age of five.

His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to football legend Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his “successor” which has also earned him the nickname “Messidona”.

Like Maradona, Messi was considered too small and had to be “pumped” up. His lack of growth though was caused by a hormonal deficiency in his bones. His love for Barcelona started at the age of 13, when Barcelona agreed to take care of his medical bills of over 500 pounds a month. Their foresight (both club and family) has proven to be a great investment.

In June 2005, he was the highest goal scorer with 6 goals and was voted player of the tournament, ahead of our own John Obi Mikel, in the under-20 World Cup, after his pair of penalties had secured a win in the final over Nigeria. It is very hard to believe that those two used to be in the same league as they are worlds apart now.

John Carlin rightly put it in describing him. “Messi is a creature as biologically adapted to play football as a shark is to smell blood, a salmon to swim upstream, a squirrel to gather nuts. In Leo Messi, the football world is united. I am yet to meet one person who has a different opinion of the guy.

It’s indeed an amazing story for someone who was/is physically challenged. It is actually worth getting on a pulpit and testifying about.

Making his debut in the 2004-05 season, he broke the La Liga record for the youngest footballer to play a league game, and also the youngest to score a league goal before his team-mate Bojan Krkic broke his record. It didn’t take too long for major titles to follow. Barcelona won La Liga in his debut season, and won the league and UEFA Champions League in 2006. In 2006-07 season he scored a hat-trick in El Clásico. His most successful season so far was the 2008-09 season, in which he scored 38 goals to play an important part in a treble-winning campaign.

He has continued to flourish match after match. We saw him in action against Arsenal in the quater-finals of the UEFA Champions league on Tuesday. He was simply awesome. He had no mercy on Mikel Silvestre and his team mates. It was a breath taking performance. He left the whole world salivating and looking forward to South Africa, maybe with the exception of Nigerians, South Koreans and the Greeks.

With his current form and his brilliance against Arsene Wenger’s side, he may well steal the headlines from Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas and other prodigies in South Africa this summer.

Even though he has Maradona’s style of play, with the flowing high-speed dribble, he has also been able to add some of Ronaldinho’s unpredictability, Eto’s cool finishing and Deco’s indefatigable playmaking.

It is also nice to note that off the pitch, he is nothing like Diego Maradona. He is a quiet and a shy person. I really don’t see him as one who would acquire the dangerous habits that sent his national team coach into rehabilitation several times.

He also seems to me like a man who will end his career at the Camp-Nou with a sell-on clause of about 150 million Euros, Barcelona might as well have put a “not-for sale” sign on his forehead.

To say Arsenal was beaten by Messi is putting it lightly, I will prefer to use the word annihilated. It was one match Arsenal fans were not sad about; instead they applauded the brilliance of the young man.

Going forward, it’s no longer news that Messi’s Argentina is in the same group as Nigeria in the World Cup. Even though he seems prone to injury, I don’t wish that on him. It will be an honour to watch him play live. Question though is: who will be given the task of marking Leo Messi who has become every defenders nightmare? Shittu, Yobo?

The likes of Mumuni Alao believe Nigeria has a chance against Argentina. He is of the opinion that Messi is not that fantastic when wearing the Argentinean shirt. We cannot bank on that in his current form. In my opinion, player for player I give it to Argentina. My only consolation is that we have a coach who is certainly more experienced, and hopefully it will be won by the experience of the coaches and not the skills of the players.