Messi is the best I have seen in my lifetime, says Lineker

“Unless Mbappe scores a hat-trick or does something remarkable in the final, I think the Golden Ball will go to Messi. For the Golden Boot, it is in the balance – one goal could win it for either Messi or Mbappe.”
The man weighing up the potential winners of the big individual prizes of Qatar 2022 is Gary Lineker, who as an England striker with ice in his blood earned global fame as the six-goal top marksman at Mexico 86.
Today he is in Qatar fronting the BBC’s television coverage of this FIFA World Cup and, in this exclusive interview with FIFA+, he reflects on the performances of the contenders for the Golden Boot prize – the five-goal Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, and Julian Alvarez and Olivier Giroud, who have four goals each.
Lineker also explains why he considers Messi the greatest player of his lifetime – and why he is hoping for a “beautiful finale” for the Argentina captain in today’s final against France.

Q: You’ve never hidden your admiration for Messi, so could you explain what you’ve enjoyed in particular about his performances here in Qatar?
Lineker: He came into the tournament in great form with PSG and there’ve been some breathtaking moments – the incredible goal against Mexico, the assist against the Netherlands, man of the match against Australia, obviously the remarkable assist in the semi-final for the third goal.
But it’s not just the assists and goals with Messi, it’s the little things that people perhaps don’t notice as much. When he is locked in by about three or four players and he suddenly finds a way to wriggle out; his vision in the way he sees a pass; the weight of his passing as well as his goalscoring. I think that’s what sets him apart.
You can only talk about people in your lifetime and I didn’t really see much of Pele as I was very young, but in my lifetime only Diego Maradona really can compare for just doing things that other mortals can’t do. You can compare people statistically in terms of goals – obviously Cristiano Ronaldo is a great footballer – but what separates Messi from even the greatest of players is that ability to do the things that others can’t do. Maradona is the only other player to do that and he didn’t do it over the period of time that Messi has, so that maybe gives Messi the edge.
I think with the weight of the world off his shoulders having won the Copa America, he came into this probably a bit freer to be able to play and Argentina probably over the last three or four years have found a way to win and a way that works for Messi.
It’s very similar in a way to the 86 team of Maradona – a very tough, uncompromising, hard-working side with a very good centre-forward like they had in Jorge Valdano and now have in Alvarez. It has really worked for them. There is just one step to go.
The Golden Boot side is interesting as he’s not an out-and-out goalscorer and neither is Mbappe whereas perhaps the other two are – Alvarez and Giroud.
Messi will be player of the tournament, I think, whatever happens because of the consistency of his performances. Mbappe has produced some great performances and some magic moments but nowhere near as many as Messi – certainly not in the quarters or semis. He had one bit of magic that led to the second goal against Morocco whereas Messi has done incredible things throughout.

What have you made of the impact of Alvarez for Argentina?
With his energy, his dynamism, he has been a terrier at the top. He likes to get behind defenders, as we saw with his first goal in the semi-final. He seems to gel well with Messi, which is important. He looks a good player, a real harrier of a centre-forward. It looks like Manchester City have found a really exciting prospect as along with two or three others, he’s one of the breakthrough players of the tournament and probably the most exciting young forward along with Cody Gakpo. Alvarez as an out-and-out striker has been exceptional, especially when you consider how young he is.

Olivier Giroud at the other end of the age scale, at 36, seems to highlight how many strikers are scoring goals at a later age.
It is interesting how players now have much longer careers. It is amazing that Giroud played four years ago in a World Cup-winning team without getting a single shot on target, but he still played an important role in that team. Here we are four years on, he is 36 now, he has scored four goals and could easily have had more than two in the semi-final.
He has been remarkable. He’s obviously not going to run behind defenders anymore, though he did it in the first half against Romain Saiss when his hamstring had gone. He’s always been a good finisher, he’s always been excellent in the box, he knows how to find space, he knows how to gamble on getting into that space to score goals. He’s been helped by occasionally Mbappe and often Antoine Griezmann, who’s been outstanding.
He’s a real old-fashioned number nine in that he will hold it up very well, bring people into the game, get into the box and score with either foot or head. Messi’s getting on a bit as well.
You can see Messi has lost the burst that he used to have but he’s still almost impossible to get the ball off when he has got it, despite the fact of Father Time creeping up on him.

In terms of longevity, how much does it help that forwards are getting kicked less than in your playing days?
The law changes in the game have made it much better for forwards and that’s such a good thing. I don’t want to harp on about my day – lets call it Maradona’s day. He was kicked out of the tournament in 1982. I know he responded in the end and got himself a red card. In those days you had to commit GBH (grievous bodily harm) to get a booking. It’s an enormous benefit to the game that you can’t just kick people. It allows the great talents to prosper and that is what we want to see.
There are other law changes – the backpass rule to goalkeepers makes it more difficult for defenders and level used to be offside and that has changed which is another advantage. Particularly the fact we punish aggressive tackles on our forwards has made a massive contribution and also the overall improvement in the playing surfaces is massively important for strikers as well. You don’t get the bobbles – every ground you see now in the top leagues anywhere in the world and obviously the World Cup, the playing surfaces are perfection.
That’s why we are seeing all these records broken – the goals scored, Giroud has gone past Thierry Henry, Harry Kane has joined Wayne Rooney on 53 goals, Messi has gone past Maradona in terms of World Cup goals and even Gabriel Batistuta. We are seeing records broken constantly and that is a good thing. The sports science has improved immeasurably and that’s obviously behind it too so there are lots of things that help and it is good to see great players have longer careers.

Finally, what are your hopes for today’s final?
I hope for a great game. I think we’ve had some great games in this World Cup; football-wise, it’s been really good. Possibly four years ago might have edged it in terms of thrilling matches, although we’ve had lots of late twists in this tournament – the Dutch coming back against Argentina in the last few minutes, the incredible Croatia comeback against Brazil, and big surprises early on. There’s also the prospering African nations – every single one of them winning a game and the brilliant performance of Morocco as the first African country to get to a semi-final. There have been lots of positives. Let’s hope we get a repeat of the game when these two teams met four years ago in the last 16 and it finished 4-3 to France. Maybe the other way round this time and a 90th-minute goal from Messi would be quite nice! But whichever side wins will deserve it.

So the romantic in you will be rooting for Messi?
I think deep down, yes. I’ve just enjoyed his career so much and purely for him, I’d just love to see it because he’s given the game so much.
He has given me pleasure for nearly two decades. I’ve watched hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of his games and there’s never a match goes by, even on his quiet days, where he doesn’t do something where I think ‘how do you do that?’ I think it’d be perfect. France are a very good team and I don’t think it would affect what we think about Messi if he doesn’t win it. But if he wins, it’ll be the most beautiful finale to the most incredible career.