The irony of having to defend Lionel Messi

By Eric Beard

You do know this is the same guy most of you have been in awe of all year, right?

It's hard to find many cases more explicitly capturing the fickle nature of the neutral football fan (and journalist) than the double-standard that is placed upon Lionel Messi when he's wearing blue and red in Barcelona and when he's wearing blue and white in Buenos Aires.

Related

• Las aficionadas peruanas topless de la copa America 2011
• Happy Birthday Messi
• Messi v Ronaldo: Who had the better 2010-11 season?
• Happy 24th birthday, Lionel Messi
• Argentina Copa America 2011 Squad
• Messi inspiring the wounded Argentina
• Did I just see that? Ronaldinho Goal vs Chelsea
• Argentinos Juniors