to dispute he is not one of the GOAT is ridiculous
a player that's the MOM 80 percent of the games he plays
imo he is alredy in the same level of pele, maradona and distefano
Lionel Messi - Performances
- Thread starter Rado_N
- Start date
a player that's the MOM 80 percent of the games he plays
imo he is alredy in the same level of pele, maradona and distefano
And C Ronaldo, lets not forget him!
I can't speak for players I saw in the past of course, but he's by far the best footballer I've ever seen, and one with regards to whom you wonder how anyone could be better.
He's one of those rare sportsman who do things that bemuse you as to how that's even possible to do to that level precision in that short space of time.
400 goals ... 28 years old.
27, even better.
I wonder if we'll see him more and more as a midfielder as the season goes on. His influence in the middle running
the game was essential today.
the game was essential today.
He has slowly evolved into Maradona.
I mean there were comparisons with Diego earlier as well with the way they played and their physique etc but Leo was more of a forward. Off late, he has turned into a proper number ten.
GOAT.
Nice joke lol
Great pic.
With every major record broken, Messi is having to get obscure to keep breaking ground.
It was great actually. Barcelona had been through an ordeal of a match and needed to waste time and it seemed so simple. Give it to messi. He'll twist and turn and they just can't take it off him.
Great pic.
Awesome picture.
Had a crap night... hope he is saving his best for the semis.
I'll repeat what I said in the matchday thread :
Messi hasn't looked the same since picking up a knock vs Demi in the City game. Yet another poor game but luckily for barca, Neymar and Suarez have started playing football again.
Messi hasn't looked the same since picking up a knock vs Demi in the City game. Yet another poor game but luckily for barca, Neymar and Suarez have started playing football again.
He was double teamed all game. No biggie with his supplying role.
Agree, looks sluggish and tired. But i'll reiterate what I said in the match thread too, he'd get more chances if Neymar and Suarez weren't so poor in their link up at times. Any time he goes for a one two with Neymar the ball bounces off him and the attack ends.
The way I see it is that there is the pathetic time wasting where players with stick near the flag and do everything to get thrown ins or goal kicks and there is the type where one dares you to take the ball off him.
It's fair game until the guy on the ball basically obstructs and shoves those around him. Then again the rules of obstruction seem to be very arbitrarily applied anyway.
I agree. Suarez has not seemed on Messi's wavelength for most of this season imo but you can forgive him that since it's his first season. Messi was still getting the stats and being influential till the City game. Since then, and missing the international games, he's looked way off form. The linkup with those two wasn't that great even before the City game. Just look at the atrocious Suarez passes vs Madrid at 2-1 for eg.
He couldn't even dribble past Luiz and Rabiot in one on ones at crucial moments today. Way off his game.
Agree, some of Suarez's passing in great situations is woeful, and too often Neymar only see's his own name and lights and arses about until too many players are back.
Messi has to pick it up though, second really quiet champions league game in a row, they don't want him fading at this part of the season.
He's struggling a lot with motivation, has become the player he was at the first half of the season lately. Hopefully he can pick it up again for the final matches.
He was brilliant in the first half of the season.
I think the injury is definitely playing it's role and with Barca's lack of attacking alternatives to those three and being involved in both competitions, they can't even rest Messi.
Not as good as in Jan-early March 2015 though.
He can't be on god mode all the time. It was actually just his goal scoring that improved. His performances were great throughout. Was rated as la liga's best performer even then.
Huh? He was great in Paris.
Messi rests during matches, the player who walks the most on the pitch. He has a special freedom that allows him to play matches after matches because he knows how to pick his movement to accelerate and when to basically recover while playing.
Ronaldo is playing better than him at the moment. This season has been to and fro in terms of form between them.
Because he is scoring more goals?
No way is Ronaldo playing better than Messi or has done so at any point this season.
He was playing better for a month or 2 early in the season, but that was a while ago.
fantastic picture
Woah relax I meant like the past couple of weeks. Messi has been in far superior form since the turn of the year, he just seems to have ran out of steam a little.. saving himself for the final push.
Not just goals, Ronaldo has played really well last few weeks, his last game in particular.. his general play was really good. We shall see if he can bring it against Athletico tonight...
The man plays with angel boots
Messi was pretty decent (and decisive) in the games against PSG (1st leg) and Valencia recently, but indeed overall he looks physically exhausted and nowhere near his level of the rest of the season (and especially his January-March peak). Really poor that he got to play the entire 90 minutes yesterday given the circumstances and his own rather pitiful performance, completely unncessary. Lucho should be protecting him from himself at this point, with so much at stake (away to Espanyol on Saturday!).
A couple of trends that keep sticking:
- lack of composure/quality in his 1v1 finishing (see his goal v Valencia to add to the list; very reminiscant of his last-minute miss against Belgium at the WC)
- physical decline wrt his dribbling (Krychowiak v Sevilla, Otamendi v Valencia, and now David Luiz v PSG who all got the better of him several times in situations where pre-City knock and especially the Messi of a couple of years ago that would've never happened so frequently, or at all even)
- lack of goalscoring chances created for him (which admittedly is due to his role more than anything, but it's still telling)
He looks like he really needs a rest. Tough decisions coming up for Lucho...
A couple of trends that keep sticking:
- lack of composure/quality in his 1v1 finishing (see his goal v Valencia to add to the list; very reminiscant of his last-minute miss against Belgium at the WC)
- physical decline wrt his dribbling (Krychowiak v Sevilla, Otamendi v Valencia, and now David Luiz v PSG who all got the better of him several times in situations where pre-City knock and especially the Messi of a couple of years ago that would've never happened so frequently, or at all even)
- lack of goalscoring chances created for him (which admittedly is due to his role more than anything, but it's still telling)
He looks like he really needs a rest. Tough decisions coming up for Lucho...