As soon as Lionel Messi won the World Cup, Kylian Mbappe inherited the fans of his nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo. But there was another fallout to Messi’s truimph. Overnight the journalists, pundits, and fans who had been blinded by the extraordinariness of their idol Ronaldo got their vision and reasoning corrected by the failure of their GOAT at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. They started finding ways to obliterate the goatness of Messi. The most ready and convincing argument was to post the truth. It probably started with a video of the compilation of what the real Greatest Of All Time – Pele, had done during his legendary career. It was followed by analysis and posts of what Mbappe had already achieved at age 23. All this was to make the extraordinary Messi look ordinary.

If you take an objective analysis of Lionel Messi’s career, regardless of whose fan you are, you will conclude that winning the World Cup in addition to what he has won already makes him, one in a billion in any contest for greatness. Nevertheless, rewinding back to what Pele achieved with all the obstacles he destroyed as a Black man, you begin to see the racism in all GOATship debates. Presently, Lewis Hamilton of Formula One has the same number of Championship wins as Michael Schumacher but has won more race, yet the motorsport establishment and fans still constantly discounts Hamilton’s claims to greatness not even GOATship. When you throw in the real and not imagined obstacles Black athletes face to become great, you will easily conclude who should be declared Greatest Of All Time. The reason Michael Jordan still enjoys his GOATship and why LeBron James is even mentioned in the conversation is because both are Black.

But Kylian Mbappe is a beast apart. His records at 24 makes every extraordinary footballer to look somewhat ordinary. Before the 2022 World Cup, the same journalist, pundits and fans who were hyping Messi and Ronaldo had shifted the contest to between Mbappe and the Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. Mbappe’s World Cup masterclass corrected this biased reasoning with immediate effect. Kudos must be given to Black fathers like Richard Williams, Anthony Hamilton and Wilfried Mbappe the father of Serena Williams, Lewis Hamilton and Kylian Mbappe respectively who are showing the world how to raise extraordinary children even without any prior history of greatness in that particular endeavor or sport in the family. As the debate continues, let it be known that as a parent, we can develop our children to be the Greatest Of All Time. 

Ata Ukuta, Editor – Towncryyers