Lionel Messi

Agreed.

A joy to watch, so effortless in everything he does.

It’s one of my favourite things about him, yet so simple, the way the ball is stuck to him, he glides with it, every pass played with the precision and care of a bowl.

Wasn’t a great performance, but a top strike to win the match.

Let the battle commence :))
 
The greatest of my generation all round - probably easily - but I’d still rather pay to watch both Zidane and Ronaldinho before him.

I don’t mean that in a negative way towards Messi though. He’s the best but the other two are just more my cup of tea in terms of purely watching football.
 
Tap in said:
If its longevity at very top its him or Ronaldo. But I think Maradona and OG Ronaldo were better. But both either through injury or self destruction never got to be their very best for long.
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Agree, it's difficult to really say one is better than the other with a clean argument as both have incredible career stats and are different types of attacker.
 
Was having a poor game and then goes and does that.

Can't see his moments of magic being enough to win it unless they get a favourable run to the final.
 
Jim Prideaux said:
They won’t count that. They’ll say Opta are deeming it as a cross and won’t pay out on it.

Corrupt cunts.
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loads of folk going absolutely tonto, sky getting bombarded with people citing this:


A shot on target is defined as any goal attempt that:
  • Goes into the net regardless of intent.
  • Is a clear attempt to score that would have gone into the net but for being saved by the goalkeeper or is stopped by a player who is the last-man with the goalkeeper having no chance of preventing the goal (last line block).
 
just like the 2014 tournament in Brazil, Messi is dragging this underperforming Argentina side along.

He came to within a extra time Götze winner of winning the World Cup on his own

Ronaldo would have been watching Messi tonight, Messi doesn’t watch Ronaldo

Greatest player to have ever kicked a ball
 
He’s the greatest player of all time by a country mile in my opinion.

People use the lack of World Cup win as a stick to beat him with, even though he captained them to a final, won player of the tournament and would have won if Gonzalo Higuain hadn’t had a stinker. He also won the Copa America.

672 goals for Barcelona as well which is utterly ridiculous.
 
Genuinely don’t think the game has ever seen a player who has mastered both the art of scoring and creating/playmaking the way he has. Not at the highest level anyway. Can’t be many who can claim to be the best finisher, passer and dribbler around. It’s like when you create your own player in FIFA and just max out all their attacking attributes.
 
knightswood_bear said:
Better at what?

Obviously it’s largely subjective but for me Messi and Ronaldo have taken the game to a different level.
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So did Johann Cruyf. They even credited him with creating a style of football - 'total football' - in his time.

Also, football has evolved over the years building on what went before. As we can't take a great player from yesteryear and plonk them down in today's game, it's impossible to really compare and contrast. We can only really go by what they did in their time.
 
hammer17 said:
just like the 2014 tournament in Brazil, Messi is dragging this underperforming Argentina side along.

He came to within a extra time Götze winner of winning the World Cup on his own

Ronaldo would have been watching Messi tonight, Messi doesn’t watch Ronaldo

Greatest player to have ever kicked a ball
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For all the stick Messi gets for staying at Barca so long he didn’t half cover up the absolute disaster that squad became.
 
Pirlo said:
Genuinely don’t think the game has ever seen a player who has mastered both the art of scoring and creating/playmaking the way he has. Not at the highest level anyway. Can’t be many who can claim to be the best finisher, passer and dribbler around. It’s like when you create your own player in FIFA and just max out all their attacking attributes.
Click to expand...
Can he do it in Naples?
 
BluenoseAL said:
loads of folk going absolutely tonto, sky getting bombarded with people citing this:


A shot on target is defined as any goal attempt that:
  • Goes into the net regardless of intent.
  • Is a clear attempt to score that would have gone into the net but for being saved by the goalkeeper or is stopped by a player who is the last-man with the goalkeeper having no chance of preventing the goal (last line block).
Click to expand...
Surely they’ll do the decent thing with this? It was 100% a shot on goal.
 
Hillheadbear said:
So did Johann Cruyf. They even credited him with creating a style of football - 'total football' - in his time.

Also, football has evolved over the years building on what went before. As we can't take a great player from yesteryear and plonk them down in today's game, it's impossible to really compare and contrast. We can only really go by what they did in their time.
Click to expand...
Which is why I said it’s largely subjective.

What can’t be argued against is what Messi and Ronaldo have achieved, year after year playing at elite European clubs breaking record after record and winning trophies at international level.

The other guys typically in the conversation were not able to do that.
 
It’s very simple, had you asked someone 15 years ago, what Messi & CR would need to do to surpass Pele, Maradona, etc. the response wouldn’t even be what they achieved as individuals.

The reason being it wasn’t fathomable, however as their greatness has become normalised & all mythos that the former legends had being non-existent for them (courtesy of 24/7 TV & SM), it’s easy to cross your arms & say “they ain’t as good as the old guys” & you’re right. They’re better.
 
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