The beauty of the beautiful game, the moments when football is raised to an art-form and the pitch becomes a canvas for the game's great artists.

The beauty of the beautiful game, the moments when football is raised to an art-form and the pitch becomes a canvas for the game's great artists. Aiden McGeady lives for those moments. It is what inspired him to become a footballer, and what continues to fuel his own pursuit of perfection. It is why, as a child, the shelves in his bedroom creaked under the weight of his Maradona videos. It is why, on a school trip in his early teens, he lavished all his spending money on a Barcelona strip with Saviola on the back.

It is why his pulse quickened when taking to the park for the Republic of Ireland against the Brazilians at Croke Park a couple of weeks ago; and why he will approach Wednesday's meeting with Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and company with the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning. McGeady is every inch the football purist. It is difficult to imagine him slumped on his sofa watching Premier League pap, a lot easier to see him on the edge of his seat watching Messi skate past defenders in La Liga.

Martin O'Neill famously compared him to Ronaldinho after his scoring debut against Hearts as an 18-year-old. He insists that the O'Neill comparison was "tongue in cheek" and claims that he would be happy to end up "half the player Ronaldinho is." As for comparing him to Messi, don't even go there. It tells you everything about the reverential awe with which he regards Barcelona's world stars. McGeady holds true to the maxim that great players should be celebrated rather than graded. Yet the development in his own style, from his debut as an impish teenager to the present day, is a reflection on the players he watches and who continue to inspire him. The Brazilian-inspired tricks and flicks are still evident in his game, but the past six months have witnessed a more direct approach and willingness to utilise his pace, aspects which are more reflective of Barcelona's Argentine protege. It is little wonder, then, that he picks out Messi as the player, more than any other, who he tunes in to watch.

"I am always really disappointed when I turn on the TV to watch Barcelona and Messi is not playing," he reflects. "He really excites me, even more so than Cristiano Ronaldo because I think he's more direct. If Messi hadn't been injured for some of this season then he could have scored as many as Ronaldo has. He's also rapid. The first time I noticed how fast he was was in a Real Madrid v Barcelona game last season when he was up against Roberto Carlos. He done Carlos for pace and not a lot of people go past Carlos like he did. The great thing is that he can only get better. He is only 20. To break into the Barcelona first team at such a young age is a very hard thing to do because they are the sort of club who can just go out and buy the best."

Watching Messi reminds McGeady of his all-time football hero and transports him back to his childhood - to the days when he bamboozled his young contemporaries in a pair of Puma Maradona boots then sprinted home to watch videos of his Argentine hero. The lineage from Maradona to Messi is clear. You suspect that McGeady would consider comparing anyone with Maradona as heresy, but he is prepared to make an exception in Messi's case.

"There's always been talk when Argentine players break through about: who is the next Maradona?' There were guys such as Carlos Tevez, Ariel Ortega and Pablo Aimar but none of them hit the heights of Messi. He is the real heir to the throne. Their styles are very similar. They are about the same height, a similar build and are both excellent on their left foot. They have the ability to go past people on either side."

McGeady's first memory of Maradona is an enduring, if ignomini-ous one. It was at the 1994 World Cup and he had just clipped a shot into the top corner against Greece. Veins bulging and eyes popping, he runs to the television camera and screams like a Tasmanian Devil. Soon after, he would be kicked out of the tournament for illegal drug use. Maradona's legacy is a tarnished one, but it did not stop a young McGeady from discovering the genius of his early years.

"I got to know his game through watching videos. My uncles and my dad were huge fans of his, so it was through them that I really got into him. He almost single-handedly won the World Cup for Argentina in 1986, but leading Napoli to two scudettos was an incredible achievement.

"They also won the UEFA Cup during his time there. I think he is the best player I have ever seen. Some of the things he could do with a ball made him a class apart. Players like Zinedine Zidane, Johann Cryuff and Michel Platini were class but I think Maradona and Pele were on the next tier."

McGeady believes that Messi has the potential to equal the feats of Maradona. "I think Messi can be as good as Maradona. If he can keep producing over the next five or six seasons then he will be up there. Zidane's profile wasn't as high before the 1998 World Cup, but from that point up until 2006 he produced the goods at the top level and was considered one of the best players in the world. I think you need to do it over that sort of time period to be considered one of the greats."

McGeady's nickname, Aidinho', is a nod to another of Barcelona's main threats on Wednesday, Ronaldinho. The Brazilian has not scaled the heights of previous seasons this campaign and is fending off accusations of being overweight.

"I don't know what's happened to him this season. Maybe there are one or two problems in the background, but there is no doubt that he could get back to the level he has showed over the past couple of years.

"People are writing him off but he has been the best player in the world by far over the past two years. Maybe it is just a mental thing. You don't see him going past players like he used to. He is more stop-start now and looking for the killer pass.

"When Martin O'Neill compared me to Ronaldinho, it was very much tongue in cheek. If I turn into half the player Ronaldinho is then I'll be delighted. When I think about Ronaldinho I always go back to the goal against England in the 2002 World Cup when he sold Ashley Cole a dummy and he basically just fell over, then he ran about 50 yards and laid it off for Rivaldo to score.

"He clearly practises his skills a lot in training; 15-20 years ago you wouldn't have seen anyone doing some of the things he does with a ball. He has invented his own tricks and has the confidence to try them in game situations."

McGeady has established himself as a winger at Celtic, though has made no secret of the fact that he prefers to occupy a more central playmaking role. As a youngster coming through the club's youth ranks, he played as an old-fashioned No.10.

The role, together with the number, is revered in European football, though not in Britain. He points out that the two digits in his current number, 46, add up to 10, and admits that he would one day aspire to fill both the No.10 jersey and the position.

"A lot of the great players in the world - Pele, Maradona, Platini - wore the No.10 jersey. I've always had the same shirt since I got into the first team. I was just given it at the time and it's never changed. When I was younger and went to tournaments abroad to play against Dutch teams, I would always look out for the No.10. The No.10 is always considered the playmaker."