10 - Lionel Messi - v2

[spark]

Argueing with Villa, drinking a coke in front of Pep's eyes, not showing up for a meet & greet, cancelling the charity match. He probably also denies Thiago his dessert and beats his dog, etc etc.

Makes me laugh every time.

 

[abual3bed1]

So that's it? Ronaldo won it?

 

[ryuken]

Still dont get why ppl take someone working for AS seriously when it comes to us.

 

[Luftstalag14]

On December 5th, Balague will release his book of Messi. An extraction :

Pep Guardiola discovered one of Leo’s pressure points early on in his tenure. As he admitted to Martin Souto, Messi got annoyed because he was replaced in the 81st minute by Pedro. With the match already wrapped up with an emphatic 4–0 lead, Pep wanted to give him a rest in preparation for the Real Madrid match seven days later. Thierry Henry had scored a hat-trick but Leo was quiet. According to Catalan radio station RAC1, 'the Flea' turned up at the training ground the following day but did not get changed and was clearly mad about the match and substitution.

Messi gets angry when he is replaced and also when he is not given the ball when he thinks he should get it. But, as Estiarte once said to Leo, other footballers simply do not see the game as he does: "I used to be like you. I would see it clearly, but the thing is it is not that obvious to the others. They aren’t as good as you."
Orion

"Look, I also get annoyed when they don’t pass it to me, if I see an opening and I don’t get the ball," explains Gustavo Oberman, the Argentine international who won the Under-20 World Cup alongside Messi. "Maybe his anger is more noticeable with so many cameras on him. But it is something that every player does, from the best in the world to the village boys having a kickabout with friends. I do it because I think the best option is down my side and there are times when I don’t pass because I can’t see the other openings. It isn’t out of selfishness or personal ambition, because he provides many assists, too, he doesn’t just score."

That was the same Leo whom Pep discovered to be competitive to the extreme, even in friendlies. Diego Milito tells of how Messi used to shout: "Pass to me, I’ll sort it out," if his team was losing in a kickabout in training. He also followed football codes that he had learned in Argentina: in the book 'When We Never Lost' Juan Villoro tells of a training session in which Sergio Busquets went hard in on the ball and gashed Messi’s leg.

The session continued and in the dressing room the midfielder went to apologise to him. "The victim answered in a measured voice," Villoro continues, "pointing to the wound: 'it says Sergio Busquets here'." Leo was not going to forget that; he owed him one. "Days later, the incident apparently forgotten, he tackled Busquets very hard and smiled with almost childish glee: it had been payback time."

Villoro explains that in a game against Espanyol, the city rivals, at their stadium in Cornella, he celebrated the 5–1 victory by patrolling the wing nearest to the benches, occasionally throwing sidelong glances at the rival coach, fellow Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino. And every now and then if a winger or forward, those around him, didn’t pass him the ball, he would also show his disgust. Guardiola understood that those were two faces of the same coin. And he was learning how to handle it.

Since starting his career in the game, Pep has always known there are footballers who have to be treated differently. He saw it in the Barcelona dressing room as a player with Hristo Stoichkov and Romario. When he started to think as a coach, he reflected on how such supposed favouritism could be applied without affecting the group...

It seems like Balague is looking for a sensational story, can't believe this is true...

It is not that bad even if it is true. Like many great footballers, Messi has this urge to compete and excel. Of course Messi is not a saint, he is a regular, flawed human being like the rest of of us.

 

[DonAK]

Michel Platini: "The extension of the voting period for ballon d’Or? FIFA might made it to please Ronaldo."

He knows.

Haha awesome

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

It is not that bad even if it is true. Like many great footballers, Messi has this urge to compete and excel. Of course Messi is not a saint, he is a regular, flawed human being like the rest of of us.

:tata1: BLASPHEMY

"They say all men are equal in god's eyes. This player makes you seriously think about those words."

HOW DARE YOU.

 

[Mitchell1978]

It is not that bad even if it is true. Like many great footballers, Messi has this urge to compete and excel. Of course Messi is not a saint, he is a regular, flawed human being like the rest of of us.

Agreed, it doesn't sound that bad at all, it just makes him look like someone who is extremely competitive which is a good thing.

 

[abual3bed1]

Gabi Milito wants Messi to do an honorary kick off in his testimonial game on Dec 26.

 

[MrKnowitAlll]

but to be honest we cant shed up the fact that Messi does sometimes do amazingly stupid things.
Even as much as we laugh some of this off , sometimes Messi isnt any better than Ronaldo.


Especially in El Clasico's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmSPejqhuXA

 

[Gohan]

Gabi Milito wants Messi to do an honorary kick off in his testimonial game on Dec 26.

NO!, no more unneccessary matches for Leo.

 

[linetty]

NO!, no more unneccessary matches for Leo.

He is meant to play few minutes at most there...his presence is to be "symbolic"

 

[coura]

but to be honest we cant shed up the fact that Messi does sometimes do amazingly stupid things.
Even as much as we laugh some of this off , sometimes Messi isnt any better than Ronaldo.


Especially in El Clasico's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmSPejqhuXA

All i see is messi getting bashed. lol. Only Gandhi or the Dalai Lama would stay still facing such scum

 

[hardyboy]

Report: Lionel Messi Wins The 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or

Agencia News are exclusively reporting that FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or, fighting off competition from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery, who allegedly finish in second and third-place respectively


Ah, the joys of social networks. If you delve deep enough, there are always hidden gems to be found, particularly when it comes to sports. Whether it's "agents" proclaiming the next big transfer, "club insiders" bringing the latest dressing room gossip, or in this case, an unknown source with an "exclusive" report detailing the alleged winner of the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Spoiler: it isn't Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to the mysterious @AgenciaNews, Lionel Messi will allegedly walk away with his fifth Ballon d'Or, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery trailing in his wake, with Andres Iniesta and former Barcelona striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic occupying fourth and fifth place -- and usually, speculation and rumours like this would be discarded without much thought.

However, the Twitter handle in question has previous; they were amongst the first to report that FIFA had extended the voting deadline just a couple of weeks ago and somehow escaped the headlines last year, despite correctly predicting the rankings of the top five in the 2012 Ballon d'Or -- roughly a month before the results were officially announced. The same account tweeted an exclusive regarding Eric Abidal's move to Monte Carlo approximately 48 hours before AS Monaco confirmed the signing, and continuing on the Ballon d'Or theme, they also correctly reported the ranking of four of the top five managers in the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year Award.

Let's take it with a pinch of salt; Lionel Messi will surely remain an outsider for this year's award, but maybe success isn't out of his reach after all...

What do you think? Does Lionel Messi deserve to win his fifth consecutive Ballon d'Or?

 

[hardyboy]

I don't know if its true or not

 

[Yannick03]

Report: Lionel Messi Wins The 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or

Agencia News are exclusively reporting that FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or, fighting off competition from both Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery, who allegedly finish in second and third-place respectively


Ah, the joys of social networks. If you delve deep enough, there are always hidden gems to be found, particularly when it comes to sports. Whether it's "agents" proclaiming the next big transfer, "club insiders" bringing the latest dressing room gossip, or in this case, an unknown source with an "exclusive" report detailing the alleged winner of the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or.

Spoiler: it isn't Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to the mysterious @AgenciaNews, Lionel Messi will allegedly walk away with his fifth Ballon d'Or, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery trailing in his wake, with Andres Iniesta and former Barcelona striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic occupying fourth and fifth place -- and usually, speculation and rumours like this would be discarded without much thought.

However, the Twitter handle in question has previous; they were amongst the first to report that FIFA had extended the voting deadline just a couple of weeks ago and somehow escaped the headlines last year, despite correctly predicting the rankings of the top five in the 2012 Ballon d'Or -- roughly a month before the results were officially announced. The same account tweeted an exclusive regarding Eric Abidal's move to Monte Carlo approximately 48 hours before AS Monaco confirmed the signing, and continuing on the Ballon d'Or theme, they also correctly reported the ranking of four of the top five managers in the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year Award.

Let's take it with a pinch of salt; Lionel Messi will surely remain an outsider for this year's award, but maybe success isn't out of his reach after all...

What do you think? Does Lionel Messi deserve to win his fifth consecutive Ballon d'Or?

Yeah, I did some digging and they certainly aren't right in everything.

The correctly predicted the top 5 of the Ballon d'Or and the top 4 of the Managers but they got the fifth place wrong. They said it was Prandelli but it wasn't.

I also checked some of the votes they published but only 1 of about 6 were entirely correct. I'm not sure how much credibility I'd give it but certainly not a lot.