Messi spent 17 seasons building his legacy in a league where his club, FC Barcelona, secretly paid millions to the vice president of the referees’ committee. This is not a minor controversy. It is the biggest corruption scandal in the history of sport.
Great talent does not erase a tainted system. Lance Armstrong was also an elite athlete, yet his titles were erased once the truth came out. Messi’s trophies were accumulated inside a compromised competition, and they deserve to be questioned.