Yes but I was referring to the calendar year 2017.
Lionel Messi - Performances
- Thread starter Rado_N
- Start date
Yes but I was referring to the calendar year 2017.
Club level is 43 vs 29, not even close.
Now you can call me out on not counting international goals but sorry, I don't think putting 6 of his 10 goals on almost semi-pro teams like Faroe (93th) New Zealand (113th) and Latvia (148th) adds anything meaningful to the conversation of "which player had a better year". Eibar might not be Bayern Munich but at least all their players earn a hefty paycheck at the end of the week and have shown good enough to play in a top 4 European league
Still, there's this concept in team sports where not always the best player or best performer win, you can take a look at the NBA MVP vs NBA champions in the same season to get it. If you think it was a coincidence that Real Madrid won their 2nd league title in Ronaldo's worst season league-wise with them then there's not a lot we can talk about. You probably think in his 12 goals of the UCL the ball magically appeared in the area around him pulled by the gravity force he creates while running at the space or something, like scoring 12 goals almost at the first touch isn't something extremely rare that depends on more factors than a single player.
Take it to Messi v Ronaldo thread lads.
He somehow plays deeper than most top scorers and still scores a ridiculous amount of goals.
Right, just take away all of Ronaldo important goals/performances in CL, and discounting all goals he score for Portugal for the comparison, how fair.
Was the only one who tried to make something happen on his own. Played really well given the circunstances. His dribbling looks as sharp as ever
Another example that the international argument against Messi is unfair. Even when he shows up, repeatedly for Argentina, the others are cause to their lack of success.
They forget he played well in ALL tournaments. WC 2010 was his best tournament ever for me, he created ALOT of chances and against Germany was the only one trying. Copa america 2011 playing all matches in Argentina he carried the team. Among other examples, really, there was never one tournament where he went AWOL. It amazes me that Aguero and Di Maria, proven players in european leagues, can't do the same in there.
A world cup without Messi would be weird 
A world cup without Messi would be weird
He will be 35 in 2022, in case they fail to qualify for this one, I doubt 2014 would be his last.
Are you suggesting that if Argies qualify, this would be his last world cup?
Not long till we can sign him on a free!
A world cup without Messi would be weird
Totally agree. At world cups you always want the best players in the world. Argentina right now seem like a team of individuals. But by God those individuals!
One of the bigger games of his career on Tuesday night. He needs to rise to the occasion and have one of the best performances of his career.
I don't care how many excuses there are, his teammates aren't going to get every pass or shot right but neither will Ecuador. They have lost their last 6 games and have nothing to play for so one of the greatest of all time needs to lead his team to a win there at all costs. Any half chances need to be scored, free kicks need to be sharp, there needs to be danger everytime he's on the ball and if he loses the ball he needs to chase after it. He has all the ability in the world, it's time to show some balls and with all this pressure on him he needs to put up a legendary performance and lead Argentina to the World Cup finals. There are no excuses.
I don't care how many excuses there are, his teammates aren't going to get every pass or shot right but neither will Ecuador. They have lost their last 6 games and have nothing to play for so one of the greatest of all time needs to lead his team to a win there at all costs. Any half chances need to be scored, free kicks need to be sharp, there needs to be danger everytime he's on the ball and if he loses the ball he needs to chase after it. He has all the ability in the world, it's time to show some balls and with all this pressure on him he needs to put up a legendary performance and lead Argentina to the World Cup finals. There are no excuses.
I think he will retire for good if they don’t make it to the World Cup.
Agree about 2010, that was mostly down to Maradona. That said- he was anonymous in the final in 2007, in 2011 Batista went with Messi's team the first two games, they drew both, Messi did feck all, argentina's media were openly questioninh whether Messi felt the albiceleste enough, then Batista went with the team he wanted, they won, went to the QF, Batista choose a middle ground between the team Messi wanted and the one he wanted, they lost to uruguay on penalties with Messi once again having an underwhelming game. He was anonymous from the QF to final in 2014, he didn't carry the team in 15 and 16 and while he did have his moments in the finals, he didn't dominate either game. He's never had a truly great game by his standards at the highest level, with the highest stakes, for argentina. Di Maria's problem is that he always gets injured at the worst moment(injured against belgium in 14, missed the final in 15, played injured in 16)
The others...i dunno. I think part of the problem is how much is put on Messi's shoulder, another is the fact they haven't won since the early 90s, and they lost 3 straight finals in the last 4 years. That's bound to leave scars. The amount of pressure argentina players are put through domestically is incomparable to what happens in europe, too.
Add the utter joke that is the AFA...
Well, dont think many consider current Messi as one of the greatest of all time so that argument goes down the drain quickly, this version of him cant do it alone as he isnt as fast as he once was, his dribbling regressed and the qualities that improved with time require help from others, someone else to either create a situation for him or to score after he creates a chance for them.
In last 2 games he created over 10 chances for his teammates so he did his part. I thought he had a bad day yesterday but he still created 5 good chances and was class above any other argentinian player on the pitch which says it all about their team.
He did his part but he needs to do even more than that on Tuesday. His teammates missed chances but so did he and Mascherano was probably the best argentinian player on the pitch too.
He simply can't afford to have a bad day on Tuesday like he did yesterday. Yes, he was still the best player in Argentina's attack and he wasn't at fault for the result but we need to see the best version of Messi in Quito. He obviously won't need to do everything on his own either, he'll get into good positions and he'll get his chance to make the difference just like he did yesterday. he just needs to make it count.
Yeah, Masche was decent as well ill give you that
I dont know, his legacy as one of the GOATs(and reality is we will never know who really is the GOAT) was settled long time ago so what ever happens in Quito wont change much IMO. If he plays decent/good/poor and the team doesnt quality or if he produces God like performance that place them at WC nothing will really change in reality, either way he will stay in that first tier of footballers.
Excuses or not, anyone who actually watched Argentina throughout this qualifiers wont put any blame on Messi if they fail to qualify.
No no no mate, i'm saying that he will be still at a good age in 2022. They qualyfing or not qualyfing next tuesday, he should still have one more run in him
Well, Di Maria is fit now, there are no excuses for him aswell. He can be world class when he really wants. And I thought Messi's Copa America last year was fantastic, hat trick in the first match, awesome freekick against the USA and had a great match against bolivia. I think they need to play Dybala, the problem is Dybala himself made comments it's difficult to play alongside Messi and that came back to bite him.
It's bizarre that Dybala made that comment. Why? This is a potential GOAT you're tussling for space with and he's still at his best.
Should have just shut up and played for the team.
All players including him don't perform anywhere near their club standards for the national team, it's actually quite baffling.
He was saying it from a positional standpoint and he's right. Dybala does for Juve what Messi does for Argentina, obviously it's going to be difficult for him to play alongside him.
Manchester City have had "serious conversations" about signing Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, 30, for 400m euros (£358m) in January as the Argentine is yet to sign a new deal with the La Liga club. (Marca)
400 million eurosExpect him to sign a new deal until the end of the year. There's only two scenarios where I see Messi leaving Barcelona:
1)If all that Catalonia stuff gets the club kicked out of La Liga forever and they run the risk of not qualyfing for champions league having to go through numerous qualyfing stages, he could get angry
2)If by the time he is at least 34 he decides he wants to win the Libertadores (The south american champions league) and asks to go back to Newells, Boca Juniors or River Plate.
City and PSG can have all the money in the world, don't see anything happening at all
1)If all that Catalonia stuff gets the club kicked out of La Liga forever and they run the risk of not qualyfing for champions league having to go through numerous qualyfing stages, he could get angry
2)If by the time he is at least 34 he decides he wants to win the Libertadores (The south american champions league) and asks to go back to Newells, Boca Juniors or River Plate.
City and PSG can have all the money in the world, don't see anything happening at all
Legendary performance. The third goal was a world class finish. Argentina likely won't win the world cup but it won't be due to him.
What a game to get a hatrick in. Carried Argentina to the world cup.
IMO, one of his most important matches in his career. All the pressure on him and a terrible start to the game, his country needed him a lot and he responded by a Hat-trick. Just another prove of his legacy and legendary state.
yep. Maradona-eque tonight.
Will have to repeat the little man witj black curly hair feats through entire world cup finals if he is ever to win a world Cup winners medal as rest of his team is average at best.
Yeah. Wow. AGAIN.
Bloody 'ell if there's a player that deserves the World Cup it's him.
All thanks to my words of motivation...
He rose up to the occasion and took them to the World Cup, he was missing a performance like this for Argentina but he's shown why he is who he is. Now time to get ready to do it again at the World Cup.
He's just on a different level to anyone I've seen. Has that phenomenal ability to do things on his own, which is what carrying a team involves. But of course it's a team sport and the team as whole comes together to win/lose, which is why I don't think Argentina will make a big impression at the world cup.
But to do that given the pressure and criticism and poor performances of the team, is something special.
But to do that given the pressure and criticism and poor performances of the team, is something special.
That was hilarious to watch. Huge game, need to win. Let's concede a goal from a long ball and pin ball headers. They'll go out of the group stages at the WC f they're such a brittle team.
Their defense needed to get sorted out, but I believe they'll be much better in the tournament itself. Performance in qualifiers doesn't always indicate the performance in the tournament and we have England as an example.
That was a stupid goal to concede and their defense was crap today but they're usually pretty good. They finished as the second best defense in conmebol and having a solid defense in knockout tournaments usually goes a long way.
He's delivered once again. Superb performance. The third goal was exceptional. You could count on one hand the number of people who could pull off such a finish. It's bread and butter for Messi. If anyone in that Argentina selection deserves anything, it's this guy.
But the whole team needs to perform if they're to do anything worthwhile in Russia. Their defense is horrible. South American teams have shite defenses in general that get found out once they come up against superior tactical arrangements from Europe. The only outlier is Brazil
But the whole team needs to perform if they're to do anything worthwhile in Russia. Their defense is horrible. South American teams have shite defenses in general that get found out once they come up against superior tactical arrangements from Europe. The only outlier is Brazil
Showed up when he was needed more than ever.