Lionel Messi

He is so far ahead of anyone else it is medically frightening
 
Imagine being so good that Pele himself has to talk you down, that's Messi...
 
How good was 2013-2014 Messi by the way ? He's been playing at a very high level since 2005 and that 13-14 season was the only one I remember thinking he had dropped a level.
 
Luke1995 said:
How good was 2013-2014 Messi by the way ? He's been playing at a very high level since 2005 and that 13-14 season was the only one I remember thinking he had dropped a level.
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Was the worst iteration of Messi after breaking through. That was when his age got the better of him and his body didn't accept his bad eating habbits etc. any longer. As far as I know, he got himself a nutrional coach from Italy back then and became a lot more responsible (apparently his favourite food was Pizza until that point and he had this habbit of consistently vomitting during games..). His new maturity it was attributed to his son being born back then. Turned it around a few months after Enrique took over.

I think 13/14 was the only season during which Ronaldo was truly a better player than Messi. He became a different player after that. Went from the prodigy that dominated through pure talent and couldn't be bothered with anything else than just playing football to more of a role model/serious type of player.
 
Zehner said:
Was the worst iteration of Messi after breaking through. That was when his age got the better of him and his body didn't accept his bad eating habbits etc. any longer. As far as I know, he got himself a nutrional coach from Italy back then and became a lot more responsible (apparently his favourite food was Pizza until that point and he had this habbit of consistently vomitting during games..). His new maturity it was attributed to his son being born back then. Turned it around a few months after Enrique took over.

I think 13/14 was the only season during which Ronaldo was truly a better player than Messi. He became a different player after that. Went from the prodigy that dominated through pure talent and couldn't be bothered with anything else than just playing football to more of a role model/serious type of player.
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Yeah I agree, he looked slow as shit after his injuries in early 2014, that game against atletico in the CL was genuinely one of the worst performances ive seen from any footballer, couldn't run and couldnt deal with atletis press every time he got the ball. Ronaldo deserved the ballon in 2014. Along with 08 and 17.

Crazy he managed to have such a good world cup despite being clearly nowhere near peak fitness, he barely dribbled a player in the whole tournament but still carried the team for 5 matches. I thought he was coming to his end but then that 14 15 season came along, probably his best ever imo.
 
Zehner said:
Was the worst iteration of Messi after breaking through. That was when his age got the better of him and his body didn't accept his bad eating habbits etc. any longer. As far as I know, he got himself a nutrional coach from Italy back then and became a lot more responsible (apparently his favourite food was Pizza until that point and he had this habbit of consistently vomitting during games..). His new maturity it was attributed to his son being born back then. Turned it around a few months after Enrique took over.

I think 13/14 was the only season during which Ronaldo was truly a better player than Messi. He became a different player after that. Went from the prodigy that dominated through pure talent and couldn't be bothered with anything else than just playing football to more of a role model/serious type of player.
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Awesome, didn't knew about that nutritional story! Even then, I remember some amazing moments, like the hat trick vs Valencia, vs Ajax and in the 4-3 Classico. And he still got 40 goals!
 
BarcaSpurs said:
Yeah I agree, he looked slow as shit after his injuries in early 2014, that game against atletico in the CL was genuinely one of the worst performances ive seen from any footballer, couldn't run and couldnt deal with atletis press every time he got the ball. Ronaldo deserved the ballon in 2014. Along with 08 and 17.

Crazy he managed to have such a good world cup despite being clearly nowhere near peak fitness, he barely dribbled a player in the whole tournament but still carried the team for 5 matches. I thought he was coming to his end but then that 14 15 season came along, probably his best ever imo.
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I would agree with the 14-15 assessment in a heartbeat but the 2009-10 version gives me pause in terms of peak speed and agility.
 
Another cracking performance right after the bitter, puzzlingly unfair-misguided words of Pelé.

Barça could win yet another CL this season if Messi keeps playing at this level and striking free kicks with this accuracy.
 
Luke1995 said:
I would agree with the 14-15 assessment in a heartbeat but the 2009-10 version gives me pause in terms of peak speed and agility.
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Think the 2010/11 season where they won the cl at wembley was his best for me. Had the passing the scoring and the explosiveness and that performance in the 5-0 classico despite not scoring was one of the best performances ive seen. Though special mention to the season he got 70 plus goals with the 90 plus goals in the calendar year is just unfathomable.
 
Luke1995 said:
I would agree with the 14-15 assessment in a heartbeat but the 2009-10 version gives me pause in terms of peak speed and agility.
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I think speed is the most overrated aspect of Messi's playing style. Usually, teams sit so deep against Barca that he can't use it anyway. If you take a closer look of the majority of his dribbles then you realize that he doesn't really rely on speed or acceleration. Of course he still has these moments with incredible bursts of speed but they are rare. the 18/19 year old Messi was definitely faster than the current one and probably the fastest version (although he still has it in him at times) but still a worse player.What's so amazing is that every dribble seems to have a purpose. He doesn't dribble for the sake of it but to accomplish something. May it be to free a passing line, take a shot or retain possession but it is never pointless and usually in very tight spaces. And even his 13/14 self was much better at that than the Messi that just entered professional football.
 
Over the last year or so Messi has gotten waaaaaay better on his free kicks. Scored 2 more today. Mind you, the keeper should have saved the 2nd one but he was caught cheating to his left and found himself on the wrong foot...
 
Pow said:
Think the 2010/11 season where they won the cl at wembley was his best for me. Had the passing the scoring and the explosiveness and that performance in the 5-0 classico despite not scoring was one of the best performances ive seen. Though special mention to the season he got 70 plus goals with the 90 plus goals in the calendar year is just unfathomable.
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Also it's so crazy that he actually reached 50 goals in the 2011-12 La Liga!
 
Zehner said:
I think speed is the most overrated aspect of Messi's playing style. Usually, teams sit so deep against Barca that he can't use it anyway. If you take a closer look of the majority of his dribbles then you realize that he doesn't really rely on speed or acceleration. Of course he still has these moments with incredible bursts of speed but they are rare. the 18/19 year old Messi was definitely faster than the current one and probably the fastest version (although he still has it in him at times) but still a worse player.What's so amazing is that every dribble seems to have a purpose. He doesn't dribble for the sake of it but to accomplish something. May it be to free a passing line, take a shot or retain possession but it is never pointless and usually in very tight spaces. And even his 13/14 self was much better at that than the Messi that just entered professional football.
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Yeah, every dribble has a purpose and most of the time he hummiliates his opponents without even thinking about it. I can never find a freestyle moment from him like Cristiano or Ronaldinho.
 
Luke1995 said:
Yeah, every dribble has a purpose and most of the time he hummiliates his opponents without even thinking about it. I can never find a freestyle moment from him like Cristiano or Ronaldinho.
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Genuinely the only piece of "freestyle" skill was that one step over he did to nani in the build up to villas goal in the cl final.
 
VorZakone said:
And they didn't even win the league, Real did. Under Mourinho.
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Mourinho was so brilliant in his plan to stop Messi in the 09-10 matches... he had a decent game at the Camp Nou even though Barça got kicked out of the tournament, but in the Italy game Inter really stopped him.
 
That first half tonight was something else(didn't watch the second), it looked like Messi at his best from few years ago, I couldn't believe how good he looked tonight.
 
That first half performance was insane, possibly career-defining for any normal player, yet I can probably think of 4-5 games where he was comfortably better just in the recent past. That's how good he is. He's set his own standards.
 
Absolute master class from Messi today. Greatest player in the world bar none.

Amazing performance oof
 
Has scored or assisted 46% of Barcelona’s goals in the last decade :lol:
 
Can't understand how any player in history could have been better than this guy. Even with his current level, he's well below his peak years. How scary is that?
 
He's obscene, it's stupid how someone can be this good at something!
 
Should have had a second assist on top of the three goals. The peripheral vision for Suarez is just astounding.
 
Seems like he'll be back in Argentina squad in March. His recent exile has finally given the space for Dybala and Icardi to get starts so interested to see if it can finally click at Copa America.
 
And Messi with a second assist now, had a hand in all five goals. GOAT, if only he had more than just one skill.
 
I hope he keeps this up, maybe at the end of the season he will surpass Mbappe and Griezmann and become the third best player in the world.
 
Every season with Messi you think...

Well, that’s the best season he’ll ever have. He can’t possibly be better next season...
 
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