While many fans will watch on Sunday to see if Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes can improve his case for being the greatest of all time, another GOAT will be watching him in the stands.

Mahomes is in line to try and win his fourth Super Bowl title – which would tie him with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the second-most all-time.

His Kansas City Chiefs team is also in line to try and do something that no other team has ever done – win three Super Bowl titles in a row.

If they win on Sunday, they’ll move into a tie for the second most Super Bowls of any team – joining the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers.

All this will play out under the watchful gaze of Lionel Messi – the Inter Miami star who is considered by many to be the greatest to ever play the game of football (or, as they’d call it in America, soccer).

When asked by a reporter about Messi’s attendance, Mahomes said that he was looking forward to taking the field in front of one of the greatest sportsmen in history.

‘He’s the GOAT of his profession and to have someone like that at the game it’ll be awesome. I’ll get to showcase who I am and what talent that I have,’ Mahomes said.

‘I got to watch him when he played in Kansas City, I think it was last year maybe a couple years ago, and he had a couple goals in that game. You see the greatness, the greatness that he displays every single day.

‘Someone else that I look up to and try to get up to his level some day.’

Mahomes is more than just a casual observer of soccer. He’s a part owner of two teams in Kansas City – Sporting KC of MLS and the Kansas City Current of the NWSL.

His wife, Brittany Mahomes, is a former college soccer player, played one year professionally in Iceland, and is one of the founders of the Current.

But standing and playing in the presence of greatness is one thing. Mahomes is actively trying to cement his case as the best to ever do it.

He’s got a long mountain to climb. Already he’s got more Super Bowl titles than the likes of John Elway and Peyton Manning. When kickoff happens, he’ll have played in more Super Bowls than Montana and Bradshaw.

But success? That’s a much taller peak to reach. Consider that when he takes the field on Sunday, he’ll have competed in five Super Bowls. That’s the same number as Elway, but it’s half the number of games that the definitive Greatest Quarterback of All Time has played in.

Mahomes only has one Super Bowl loss ever – to Tom Brady. Brady’s been in ten Super Bowls and won seven. No one else comes close.

But if anyone has the potential to match either of those numbers, it’s Mahomes. Right now, it seems like a pretty easy thought to imagine that he could reach ten Super Bowls and win seven.

But look at Brady’s career in comparison to Mahomes. Both QBs essentially sat out their rookie seasons (Brady behind Drew Bledsoe, Mahomes behind Alex Smith).

If we look at seasons two through eight of both QBs, a pattern forms. They each reached an AFC Championship and lost (Brady in season eight, Mahomes in season one), they both also won multiple Super Bowls (Brady with three, Mahomes with three for now), and they both lost Super Bowls (Brady in Super Bowl XLII to the Giants, Mahomes in Super Bowl LV to the Brady-led Buccaneers).

After season eight for Brady, he immediately suffered a serious injury in season nine and it took him four more seasons to get back to the Super Bowl. They lost to the Giants again. It wasn’t until Brady’s 15th season that he won a title again in Super Bowl XLIX over the Seattle Seahawks.

He followed that up with titles in seasons 17 (Super Bowl LI) and 19 (Super Bowl LIII) and lost the title game in season 18 (Super Bowl LII).

The point is this: if Mahomes is going to earn his way to being called the GOAT, he’s got plenty of time on his side. But there’s also the potential for this Chiefs dynasty to experience ebbs and flows much like the Dynasty-era Patriots did throughout a span of 20 seasons.

Come Sunday, when he takes the field against the Philadelphia Eagles, Mahomes will enter as one of the best the sport has ever known. If he leaves with a title, he could be well on his way to matching – or besting – Brady. But he’s got plenty of career ahead of him before that decision can be made.