Lionel Messi | PSG Watch

This is his best World Cup ironically at the age of 35.

He was sensational. Lautaro Martinez can't keep missing the sitters Messi lays on a plate for him right? :lol: Criminal misses by him.
 
Scandi Red said:
He's almost two years younger than Ronaldo but he seems to be ageing much better, which is a surprise considering the mad lengths Ronaldo is willing to go when it comes to fitness.
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Very hard to tell about the ageing, at 33 years Ronaldo was banging a hattrick against Spain in the World Cup while dishing out assists for his teammates to miss (much like Messi in this WC), at 34 he was having one of the best games of his career (in my honest opinion) against Switzerland in the Nations League semis and turning a tie around in the CL against Atlético by himself. I think it should be no surprise both of them were/are having world class games at 34/35. If someone had really payed attention to the level both of them were at their peak, at least, it should be no surprise. The ceiling was so high that the fall would always take so long. According to many people, Messi was finished last year, and was finished in 2020 too, and in 2019. Ronaldo was finished by 30, 32, 34, 35 and, yet, while it's easy to look to last season and point out the deficiencies of a 37 year old player, he was still being top 3 PL scorer and included in the PL team of the season, which so many players out there would consider a career defining highlight.

Messi is a joy to watch even at this age. As much as I don't want him to win the WC, I really will never understand those who would prefer to criticise him whenever Argentina loses or he doesn't play well. He's pretty much Argentina's best player in every match they play.
 
Scandi Red said:
He's almost two years younger than Ronaldo but he seems to be ageing much better, which is a surprise considering the mad lengths Ronaldo is willing to go when it comes to fitness.
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That’s because a major part of Ronaldo’s game has always been about superior physicality. Run faster, shove your way into good positions. That’s 90% of his game.

Many other parts of his game are extremely average so when age finally catches up, he gets exposed hard.
 
Thought his best game was against Poland even though he didn't score and missed a penalty. He was alright today, some nice dribbles has got some people over exaggerating the performance.
 



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Very Zidane 2006 like performance, albeit against much worse opposition. But both against Mexico and Australia, Argentina were completely lost and playing woefully until he scored a fantastic goal out of nowhere. And both times they started playing from that point onwards. He lifted his team when it mattered and that takes both skill and courage. Long may it continue in this World Cup.
 
Zen said:
Not sure he's stepped up like that when his team was about to hit panic mode after the Aussie goal since Neymar left Barca. But still, it is only Australia , but in the grand scheme of things, in a straight knockout game in a World Cup, it's comparable to crumbling massive advantages to Roma and Liverpool in second legs.

None of this faffing about corner time wasting either, he wasted time the Messi way.... dribbling and creating clear cut chances for Martinez to miss :lol:
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Funny enough, when Messi laid that glorious chance on a plate for Martinez to blast into orbit, I had flashbacks of Dembele doing something similar in the first leg of that Liverpool tie.

Judging from the expression on Leo's face after Lautaro missed, he seemed to be experiencing a painful bit of deja vu as well!
 
Pogue Mahone said:
He’s so good to watch. The way he wriggles out of tight spaces. Glorious. Don’t how anyone truly neutral could rate a certain someone anywhere near him in terms of technical ability, no matter how many goals he got.
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Princess only has 30 more goals having played two more years of football. So he doesn’t even have that over Messi.
 
He’s pretty much the perfect player if we don’t consider his lack of aerial ability through no fault of his own. Some of the things he did tonight were ludicrous, none more so than the goal - the ability and vision required to thread that ball past 3 defenders and the goalkeeper needs no description. My only complaint is that he’s too selfless. He’s genuinely such a perfect attacker that he would have had a better chance of sticking that ball in from the edge of the box than letting Lautaro do it with pretty much a one on one.

The look on his face when Lautaro missed was comical though. It was as if he was conveying the message to Lautaro, “How the hell have you done that after all my work?”
 
NYAS said:
Princess only has 30 more goals having played two more years of football. So he doesn’t even have that over Messi.
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He also doesn't have the responsibility to create and playmake either.

Anyway leaving that non debate aside, Messi was sublime last night. Lovely goal when his team was looking a bit wank but it was a special performance in general. That one dribble was a joy to watch. Could have had a few assists and at the end they couldn't get the ball off him. Proper show. Argentina will either go out against NL or the next match as they just haven't got it, but it was great to see him turn it on again. Easily the best footballer I've seen and it'll be a bit before someone of his quality comes along again.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Funny enough, when Messi laid that glorious chance on a plate for Martinez to blast into orbit, I had flashbacks of Dembele doing something similar in the first leg of that Liverpool tie.

Judging from the expression on Leo's face after Lautaro missed, he seemed to be experiencing a painful bit of deja vu as well!
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That Dembele chance :mad: It would have been 4-0 and killed Liverpool right off
 
MalaysianRed7 said:
He’s pretty much the perfect player if we don’t consider his lack of aerial ability through no fault of his own. Some of the things he did tonight were ludicrous, none more so than the goal - the ability and vision required to thread that ball past 3 defenders and the goalkeeper needs no description. My only complaint is that he’s too selfless. He’s genuinely such a perfect attacker that he would have had a better chance of sticking that ball in from the edge of the box than letting Lautaro do it with pretty much a one on one.

The look on his face when Lautaro missed was comical though. It was as if he was conveying the message to Lautaro, “How the hell have you done that after all my work?”
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He is good in the air for his size tbh.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Funny enough, when Messi laid that glorious chance on a plate for Martinez to blast into orbit, I had flashbacks of Dembele doing something similar in the first leg of that Liverpool tie.

Judging from the expression on Leo's face after Lautaro missed, he seemed to be experiencing a painful bit of deja vu as well!
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Wasn't that in the WC final against Germany? I can't remember who missed the sitter in the final.
 
One of the greatests, but Maradona will still edge it for me. Carried the team to the World cup, and also what he did with Napoli, is just staggering.
 
2mufc0 said:
Thought his best game was against Poland even though he didn't score and missed a penalty. He was alright today, some nice dribbles has got some people over exaggerating the performance.
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Kind of agree here. I think the amazement for many is him still being able to dribble like that at 35.
 
Highfather_24 said:
One of the greatests, but Maradona will still edge it for me. Carried the team to the World cup, and also what he did with Napoli, is just staggering.
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Controversial opinion, Argentina would not have won the 86 WC with VAR.
 
kouroux said:
He is good in the air for his size tbh.
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100%, but again, not one of the best in the world, obviously through no fault of his own as I said. When he gets the chance to score from a header though, he’s still clinical. United fans should know…
 
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SerendipityNow said:
Controversial opinion, Argentina would not have won the 86 WC with VAR.
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The Hand of God goal or based on anything else? We can’t know if that opened the game up allow Maradona’s dribble but given his amazing form in that tournament it’s reasonable to assume he would have still scored the dribble goal, in which it would have been 1-1. And if it went to penalties, would you ever back England on penalties?
 
Despite being an idiot, PM has a point. This is Messi's fifth world cup and he scored his first knock-out phase goal yesterday against bloody Australia and his fanboys are going insane. It's beyond bizarre at this point. Meanwhile, you have Dumfries assisting two goals and scoring one against (probably) tougher opponent and not a single fck was given.

The revisionism to make Messi look better on the international stage is truly mind boggling.
 
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