Probably not these days, although we’ve never had a player as good as Messi at an English club so hard to know whether he would be overtly appreciated by fans here. Probably not though as you say. English football seems more tribal with a higher number of dickheads amongst the fanbases.
Would be interesting to know from older people though, was it like this in the past? Were the top players ever applauded by opposition fans? Dalglish? Best? Moore?
I know there was a bit of chat recently about the kop always applauding Banks but was that just a kop/keeper thing or was it widespread across football?
I remember us applauding teams off when they had a good game against us. I think that stopped around the late 90s, early 2000s, though? Not sure about individual players, except what goes down in folklore (Best, Moore, etc).
On another note, I'm glad I got to see Messi play in the flesh. Along with Thierry Henry, just watching him warm-up was a treat. Just seeing the class in how they worked with the ball without the pressure of a game, or defenders. Different gravy, as they say.