'Messi is one thing we will be able to enjoy without fans'

Former Barcelona and England footballer Gary Lineker says Lionel Messi remains a big draw even if the football experience is diluted without supporters. 

LaLiga will resume on June 11 but it will do so behind closed doors, with 11 games still to be played and Barça two points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table. 

"We haven't seen him for more than two months now because of the coronavirus pandemic but it looks like LaLiga will be resuming behind closed doors very soon in Spain," Lineker wrote on the BBC. 

"It won't be the same without a crowd, there's no question of that, but Messi is perhaps the one thing we will be able to enjoy about football without fans.

"A bit of Messi, if it is televised, is much needed and will be much appreciated by many -- myself included.

"Every time I watch him, even on his quiet days, there are moments when you just go 'how does he do that?' He does things three or four times in one game that I probably never managed once in my entire career. He does things no-one else can."

Michael Jordan COMPARISON 

"Jordan is a very different personality and much more outgoing, but you could describe Messi in the same way -- as an icon whose impact and ability far transcends his own sport," Lineker added. "In the same way you don't have to appreciate basketball to appreciate Jordan, you do not have to be a football fan to get pure joy from watching Messi.

"Like Jordan, he is simply the greatest to have ever played the game -- this is why."

Among the best moments of Messi's career compiled by the BBC is his first hat-trick against Madrid in 2007, his Maradona-like goal against Getafe in the same year, the goal that sealed the Champions League in Rome against Manchester United, his four goals against Arsenal at Camp Nou, his six Ballons d'Or and the 91 goals he scored in 2012.