It was only a matter of four matches, but for a player who averages almost a goal every match, it seemed like an eternity. On March 30, Lionel Messi scored his 499th career goal, against Bolivia at a World Cup qualifier. It then seemed that the momentous 500th goal was only a matter of time, until the Argentinian suffered one of his worst-ever slumps in his dazzling career, going four games without scoring.
Messi finally broke the jinx on April 17 against Valencia, but it was in vain as Barcelona were beaten 2-1. Ironically, Messi’s slump coincided with the Catalan giants’ dip in form. From a nine-point lead in February, the defending champions Barcelona lost three Spanish La Liga matches on the bounce, and now remain top only by virtue of goal difference.
In the meantime, Barcelona have also been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage. While the Catalans finally ended the losing streak with a resounding 8-0 thrashing of Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday night, one slip-up could yet cost them the league title.
Albatross around the neck
Sport can often draw up curious parallels – Lionel Messi and Barcelona’s current travails bring to memory a similar set of circumstances in the cricketing world. Between 2010 and 2011, the great Sachin Tendulkar found himself in a peculiar position. For more than a year and 23 international innings in that period, he found himself stuck on 99 international centuries, desperately trying to reach a landmark which looked easy at first, but became more and more elusive.
In many ways, it became an albatross around his neck and relief, rather than joy, was the over-riding emotion when he finally got the much-awaited 100th century against Bangladesh in a One Day International on March 16, 2012. But there was to be a twist in the tale as India went on to lose that match, with Tendulkar coming in for criticism for purportedly slowing down on nearing his century and consequently costing his team a few extra runs.
Ironically enough, India’s cricketing fortunes steeply nosedived during the same period. Though they won the World Cup a few weeks after Tendulkar scored his 99th ton, against South Africa in a league game in Nagpur, they suffered consecutive 4-0 Test series whitewashes in Australia and England, and failed to make the finals of the triangular One Day International series in Australia later that year. Tendulkar was far below his best against both Australia and England, averaging only in the mid-thirties, and his performance was even worse in the ODI triangular series, where he averaged only 20.42.
Team comes second
Throughout his glittering career, Tendulkar often spoke about the blankness of mind with which he would arrive to the cricket pitch. Hence, once the monkey of the 100th century was off his back, he openly admitted that it had been one of his toughest phases.
“I was not thinking about the milestone, the media started all this; wherever I went, the restaurant, room service, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred,” he said in an interview after the feat was achieved. “Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds. It became mentally tough for me because nobody talked about my 99 hundreds.”
What may have gone unsaid is that the overwhelming devotion for the landmark may well have led to a lack of focus on the overall result. Despite India stuttering from one loss to another in England and then Australia, all attention invariably revolved around the feat. The build-up to each match would be dominated with talk about the feat; a hush of expectation would descend whenever Tendulkar would walk out to the crease whatever the match situation, followed by disappointment once he was dismissed. The result of the match seemed a mere sideshow. Such disproportionate focus on one personal landmark could not have been healthy and invariably the team’s performance dipped as a consequence.
Lionel Messi, a far more reticent personality, has not shared similar sentiments yet. But the circumstances indicate that even Barcelona have been far off their dominating best in the period between his 499th and 500th career goal. While Barcelona can still put this rut behind them and go on to win the title, it is a reminder that even in team sports, too much focus on individual achievement can often be detrimental to the team.