Before someone worked out that Lionel Messi was close to breaking it, Barcelona’s free-kick record was never talked about. It’s something which has been held by Ronald Koeman, now Everton manager, but isn’t really a statistic wheeled out often.
Now Messi is set to break it, Koeman is also in the news.
At the moment the Catalan media are massaging Messi’s ego, and their own, after Cristiano Ronaldo won the Balon d’Or and The Best awards, and they spoke to Koeman who helped them in their quest.
In an interview titled ‘From King to King’, Catalan newspaper Sport have lavished praise on the Everton manager and expect it back for Messi. Koeman wasn’t going to disappoint and said everything Sport would have wanted him to.
Koeman said Messi is the best of all time and was asked to elaborate, to which he replied: “I have never seen anyone like him and believe me that I have met great players. Messi is a genius, one of those players who appear every fifty or a hundred years.”
Sport then put it to Koeman that Ronaldo has won the awards, to which he answered: “It’s just that we’re not talking about the same things, forgive me.”
In what now seem an almost scripted interview, the Catalan newspaper again asked Koeman to elaborate: “Simply because these awards have a lot of marketing, they are global and, although I respect them, almost always reward the goal-scorers who have achieved some title.
“Cristiano has won the Champions League and the Euro Cup, he has scored many goals, yes, but the best, the best footballer, it’s Messi.”
That’s not enough for Sport and they asked the Everton manager for a little more, and Koeman obliged: “Cristiano is very good, a great scorer, but Messi is more complete, more technical, makes others better, is very supportive in the game, and does things that the Portuguese can never do.”
And with that, Koeman was pulled back into the bosom of Barcelona. His record may be going but he’s just got himself a bucket of brownie points which will help should he ever fancy the Barca job.
