We will never know what it is like being Lionel Messi. But we do know, many of us, what it is like to be a Lionel Messi fan. Or do we? Isn’t it like saying ‘we know about the universe’, where what we know is infinitely insufficient to what we do not know.

Sounds like a hyperbolic overdose? Bear with it for a day more, for from Monday onwards, the day after the World Cup final gets settled in Lusail City, there will be no more of Messi in that blue and white Argentina shirt. No, the earth will not stop spinning, for no matter how many summers a sportsperson rules, autumn ultimately catches up with him, his heroics settling down on pages of history like dead leaves.

For more than 18 years — his first match for Barcelona was on October 16, 2004 (his Argentina debut came 10 months later) — the magician from Rosario has hypnotised half of the world — or more, who knows — with his mind-numbing acts on the football field. He has been like a habit that grows on you, day by day, season by season, to a point where, if you like him, your limbs feel tingling every time his left foot draws a fantastical arc with the ball.

But not all like him. Many have despised him for his laid-back persona when things do not go his way. He was mocked after he seemingly retired following Argentina’s 2016 Copa America loss to Chile. And then there’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s army of fans, who trigger the GOAT-debate at the slightest of misses to belittle the little man. But even for them, Messi is a habit, no matter if they do to scoff at him.

That is Lionel Messi’s aura. In love as well as in hate, there is no escape from Messi if you follow football.

Is he the greatest? Debatable, but does it even matter? The world sits with a weighing scale every time a great player retires, digging up his achievements, counting his medals and so on. But is Messi’s greatness countable? Is he a great because he won seven Ballon d’Or awards or because he has the powers to transport from real to surreal with just a body feint? Is he a great because of his four Champions League triumphs or because he heightens your spirit of conquering odds when he dribbles past defenders like a free-flowing monsoon stream?

While the greatest debate will always be like a halo to Messi, in life and beyond, it is not why people across the world have fallen at his feet. For a Messi fan in Calcutta or Kochi, he is the very essence of football, one who makes you fall in love with the game, cry in joy, sulk in failure. Whom do we turn to when he hangs up his boots? Yes, he may continue his silken runs in the bylanes of club football for the moment, but for how long? He is 35 and if one is not mistaken, his eyes look tired.

For those who saw little or nothing of Diego Maradona, for whom Pele or George Best are like ancient folk tales, a Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is football. But Cristiano isn’t a Messi. The Portuguese star is no less a genius with the ball, but he is no poetry. Messi is. And why just poetry? Messi is everything that a work of art can be. The way he composes those assists, it’s not merely football, it’s Mozart playing football.

Or if you are not art-minded, think of Messi as an Avenger, blessed with powers beyond the ordinary, out to save the world from plunging into the depths of depression as he doles out joy with his football.

Messi is actually a world citizen, you can claim him as your own from any corner of the earth. In this part of the world, he would easily pass off as a typical ‘Bangali’, a family man who does not forget to call up his near and dear ones sitting on the Maracana grass after conquering Copa America. Call him “Messida” if you will.

Messi has been a constant in football like few have been in any sport. Take this World Cup. Some wished for a Messi vs Cristiano final, some wanted a Messi vs Brazil showdown, and now we are ready to gorge on a Messi vs Mbappe duel. Who’s the one common factor in all those dream match-ups?

We may not decipher Messi in its entirety ever, for he is not only universal, he is the football universe himself. But experiencing Messi is precious. We, who have lived in the times of Lionel Messi, have earned ourselves fairy tales to pass on to our grandchildren.

“Once upon a time, there was a Messi...”