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Toronto FC new boy Victor Vazquez was once held in the same regard as Lionel Messi

Football coaches, players, fans and writers have a habit of apotheosizing the player that did not quite make it, the young prodigy whose career was ended by injuries or derailed by bad decisions and influences.

Everyone who knew Victor Vazquez as a member of Barcelona’s famous 1987-born academy team that included Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique, however, says the same thing. “I remember Messi and Victor were by far the best players in our team,” Fabregas said. “Sometimes they would go in for head-to-head duels. If one scored four in one game, the other would hit five in the next.