Lionel Messi

Br1_ovi said:
He also scored 2 of the 3 goals of his team. But if the team concedes 4 goals it's his fault.
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There is just this weird narrative that only 1 goat player wins his team's trophies all the time and not great teams and great managers. Liverpool has been excellent for the past 2 years and klopp is the best in the world atm.

This current Barcelona has some great players, but they are not a great team and valverde is not special manager.

It's a narrative created by Ronaldo fans and he is for sure, at least by goals, the greatest Cl player of all time so far, but those Man utd teams and Real teams he won the CL's with had some amazing squads as well as great managers. Juventus regressed in the cl last year compared to their previous seasons. Does that mean that Higuain was better for Juventus than Ronaldo.
 
it really says a lot that this thread is untouched since his return from injury. looks like we've become so used to how good he is by now that two great goals and two great assists are simply that - just another two great goals and just another two great assists, something we're perceiving as ordinary when it comes from him. it's almost as we're talking about those 1 on 1 placed shots from Henry or Ruud's headers from one of Beckham's crosses. then again, that's why he's the best I guess. he literally made me used to a level of play I couldn't see from any other player before and I won't see for a long time once he retires.
 
Bole Top said:
it really says a lot that this thread is untouched since his return from injury. looks like we've become so used to how good he is by now that two great goals and two great assists are simply that - just another two great goals and just another two great assists, something we're perceiving as ordinary when it comes from him. it's almost as we're talking about those 1 on 1 placed shots from Henry or Ruud's headers from one of Beckham's crosses. then again, that's why he's the best I guess. he literally made me used to a level of play I couldn't see from any other player before and I won't see for a long time once he retires.
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Definitely this.
 
Barca lost today. Must be Messi's fault.

His disallowed goal was really good.
 
The reliance of this Barca team on Messi is incredible. Utterly dreadful without his moments of magic yet again.
 
He should have snatched sole free kick duty long ago if this is how good he was going to get at it.
 
Getting to the point where free kicks for Barca are almost as valuable as pens

He's the best. Simple as that.
 
El Zoido said:
How many free kicks has he scored in his career?
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Career? How many has he scored in the past 18 months? It must be triple what some of the beat free kick takers have in their entire careers
 
Synco said:
Eibar's keeper knew perfectly well what was coming, and Messi still hit two exactly into the same spot.
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Pretty impressive that Messi managed to score against a keeper in a different city. The real GOAT
 
BusbyMalone said:
Getting to the point where free kicks for Barca are almost as valuable as pens

He's the best. Simple as that.
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With Messi being pretty poor at penalties, I actually feel more confident when he steps for a FK in that area than when he's up for a penalty :lol:
El Zoido said:
How many free kicks has he scored in his career?
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52nd career free kick and his 16th in the league in the last 3 seasons. If he'd taken sole free kick duty years ago, he very well may have been close to 80 by now.
 
wr8_utd said:
With Messi being pretty poor at penalties, I actually feel more confident when he steps for a FK in that area than when he's up for a penalty :lol:

52nd career free kick and his 16th in the league in the last 3 seasons. If he'd taken sole free kick duty years ago, he very well may have been close to 80 by now.
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Don't think that would be the case. Messi improved greatly in that area. If he would have been so good at it in his younger years, of course he would've taken all of them by then already.
 
Messi is already the second highest scorer in Liga and just 1 goal behind Benzema (who has played almost 400 mins more). He's 3 ahead of Ronaldo, 8 behind Lewandowski, 3 behind Vardy and 1 behind Tammy.
This after missing weeks of football with two injuries.
 
Zehner said:
Don't think that would be the case. Messi improved greatly in that area. If he would have been so good at it in his younger years, of course he would've taken all of them by then already.
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I think maybe he started practicing and focusing on them even more when he became the sole free kick taker? When they had Xavi, Neymar (to some extent) and Alves around, he was sharing free kick duty.
 
wr8_utd said:
With Messi being pretty poor at penalties, I actually feel more confident when he steps for a FK in that area than when he's up for a penalty :lol:
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True!

I was saying this to my mate the other day, i don't actually know what is penalty record is like, but considering he's possibly the greatest of all time, he seems to miss a few. Although he does take them all, so i guess that factors in. There again, it takes a brave man to walk up to him and say "Lionel, i got this one". So i guess he'll continue to take them!
 
BusbyMalone said:
True!

I was saying this to my mate the other day, i don't actually know what is penalty record is like, but considering he's possibly the greatest of all time, he seems to miss a few. Although he does take them all, so i guess that factors in. There again, it takes a brave man to walk up to him and say "Lionel, i got this one". So i guess he'll continue to take them!
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He'll definitely continue to take them but he's not very good at them. Even today, I had more faith in him standing over the free kick than he went up for the penalty. It was similar with Rooney where you knew there's a good chance he'd miss but atleast with him you knew he'll almost never miss an important one. With Messi, you just feel there's a good chance he'll miss irrespective of the occasion.
 
Barca aren't very good, but could conceivably win the treble this year if they just keep winning free kicks around the edge of the area each game.
 
wr8_utd said:
I think maybe he started practicing and focusing on them even more when he became the sole free kick taker? When they had Xavi, Neymar (to some extent) and Alves around, he was sharing free kick duty.
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His FK record in La Liga pre 15/16 and since. It's clearly something he's worked on.

For reference:

 
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Skorenzy said:


His FK record in La Liga pre 15/16 and since. It's clearly something he's worked on.

For reference:

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Could u translate, please?

However, there has never ever been such a footballer like him. Even if Ronaldo gets more individual awards as a total, Messi is the One.
 
MuranoLover said:
Could u translate, please?

However, there has never ever been such a footballer like him. Even if Ronaldo gets more individual awards as a total, Messi is the One.
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Till season 2014-15 he scored 12 goals from 174 attempts (6.9%)
From season 2015-16 onwards he scored 22 goals from 174 attemtps(12.6%)
 
There's a chance that he ends up with more free-kick goals than Juninho who has 77 - needs 25 more and for the previous 4 seasons he's been averaging around 7 per season.

Think Juninho will still go down as better just because of the variety and innovation of his freekicks but Messi will comfortably be the second best of all time should he break that record.
 
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MalcolmTucker said:
There's a chance that he ends up with more free-kick goals than Juninho who has 77 - needs 25 more and for the previous 4 seasons he's been averaging around 7 per season.

Think Juninho will still go down as better just because of the variety and innovation of his freekicks but Messi will comfortably be the second best of all time should he break that record.
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He'd need to play at least three additional seasons on the level he's currently playing. I have my doubts about that since he's turning 33 after this season. Could be possible that he's still a starter at 35 but he's playing for one of the best clubs in the world and I guess he could become more of a substitute option in his last seasons. Then again, given his low work rate and playing style he could also go on until he's 36/37, who knows. But I think the probability that he bests Juninho is rather low.

Anyway, does somebody know Juninho's best free kick records in a single season? I read that he scored 44 for Lyon in 8 years which means 5-6 on average. Are Messi's recent seasons ahead of Juninho's? And if that's the case is it because Messi has more opportunities playing for such a dominant side or is his conversion rate better, too?
 
Zehner said:
He'd need to play at least three additional seasons on the level he's currently playing. I have my doubts about that since he's turning 33 after this season. Could be possible that he's still a starter at 35 but he's playing for one of the best clubs in the world and I guess he could become more of a substitute option in his last seasons. Then again, given his low work rate and playing style he could also go on until he's 36/37, who knows. But I think the probability that he bests Juninho is rather low.

Anyway, does somebody know Juninho's best free kick records in a single season? I read that he scored 44 for Lyon in 8 years which means 5-6 on average. Are Messi's recent seasons ahead of Juninho's? And if that's the case is it because Messi has more opportunities playing for such a dominant side or is his conversion rate better, too?
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Thing is, he's 32 now and he's still the best player in the world and a god at Barcelona. Even if his form does deteriorate over the next 4 years, the likes of Suarez and Busquets are still first choice after months and months of poor form because of what they've shown in the past - we've seen at United that Rooney had 2.5 seasons of being woeful before he was given a bit-part role, so I can see Messi being first choice even if he doesn't warrant it. That seems far away now of course, he had one of his best ever seasons last season so it's going to take a monumental drop for him to just be on par with his team mates. Plus his freekick taking seems to be getting better - he has 4 free goals in 11 games so far this season.

I imagine Messi's coverstion rate is higher than Juninho's in the last 5 years as Juninho took them from much further away.
 
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As brilliant as Messi is at free kicks, Juninho and Zico scored them from ridiculous distances and angles
 
It must be true.

Quick look at the bookies and he’s odds on favourite now after Van Dijk led the betting odds for the majority of the year.
 
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