The unfortunate thing for Messi is he's around in an era where all the top teams are nowhere near what they were in the 90's early 00's. Most of the top teams in Europe have gone backwards. Then you've got the standard of defending in La Liga which is some of the worst I've ever witnessed.
Put to the point that he fails to show up for Argentina. As good as Messi may be, he'll never be in my top three of all time. Not because of his talent but because of the standard of football these days that sometimes make him out to be on another planet.
I would've love to see him play against the Arsenal team that had a very good defence, Keown, Adams, Winterburn, he'd have never scored four goals then.
Also I'd loved to see how he'd cope in Serie A in the 90's he would've been destroyed in my opinion.