Quintin Jardine's blog

While most of the rest of Britain were watching a young man achieve his lifetime goal, my telly was on another channel watching a God-given talent that’s above and beyond anything Simon Cowell ever produced. A few years back, Bill Massey, my  then editor, a West Ham nut, told me that there was nothing he enjoyed more than watching Paolo di Canio just pissing about. But not even Paolo, that great eccentric, could generate the sheer pleasure that’s to be gained these days by watching Lionel Messi when he’s given free rein by Barcelona, ‘mes que un club’, to express himself. The lad is so extravagantly gifted that he makes me laugh with admiration, and no other footballer has ever done that. Best of all, unlike so many others in his sport, he does it with a smile on his face.