10 - Lionel Messi - v4

[DonAndres]

People are being a bit too critical IMO. I'd say he had a very good game. His dribbles weren't usual GOAT but even then he had some nice ones like his meg on Koscielny, a few mazy turns when marked heavily in midfield, and when he fended off Ramsey to charge forward and set up Neymar/Suarez. He didn't set up all the chances but still was good in transitioning the ball forward and absolutely crucial in buildup as an extra midfielder with some nice combinations (97 touches today, more than everyone except Alves). On top of that, two clinical away goals.

He was heavily involved today, showed some really good workrate in the second half, and ultimately decided the game in our favor. I think opinions are skewed because of the way we struggled to break them down as a team in general. People need to remember that Messi's performance is in the context of a match where we didn't even have a single shot on target in the first half. That made him look more static than we'd like as he focused more on buildup play. Most chances we did have were pretty tight and only around Suarez's area in the first half. Whenever the game was open enough for Messi to be dynamic and show his skill, he did. Not a GOAT performance, but still.

 

[beautifulgame]

of course. people here and generally on the internet forums are stupid critical of players. especially this forum, its ridiculous how far removed from reality their expectations and observations are.

and arsenal was well organized but we didn't struggle to break them down one bit, rather, we were looking to pick our spots as the game wore on. more so than other places, two legs in europe are chess matches.

to be frank, we were really, really good. we made 5-6 clear chances on goal and allowed 1-2. given our forwards versus any others in the world that is great in knockout away leg in europe. you really cannot ask for anything more at all.

lucho's team are incredible for me in one important way among others: that is, they keep their focus in big matches better than maybe any team i know of historically. for as much credit pep's teams get for spurts of amazing dynamism they do make mistakes more so than lucho's teams. that is one general reason (among others) that explains our success in away legs and big matches in europe versus pep's barca who were incredibly dominant in their own right but pale in comparison to this teams dominance.

 

[footyfan]

Great little video showcasing Messi's touches from the game. He was the best player on the pitch.

[youtube]bRMoPnMpyII[/youtube]

 

[RMU ReBorn]

Those who are saying that he didn't had a good game ,what are you guy's expecting After playing in Canary island and traveling back to Barcelona then to london in two days time . ?? Apart from those goal's he made some superb interceptions like the one vs Ozil and helped out the defense . What about those dribble's and passes To Neymar ,and suarez ?? chances he created ?? if Only Suarez and Neymar converted those chances , he would have had few Assist's to his tally . This is more than what i expected from Messi in emirates after a hectic month of football ...!!

 

[George_Costanza]

His 4th game in 9 days. I thought Lucho was mad when he played Messi last weekend. The reason we won the triplet last year because of his smart rotation. Messi is a year older and need to rest him now and then. I would think he would scored another 2 goals if he was rested and came to the game mentality and physically fresh.

 

[Luftstalag14]

 

[Science Kid]

' At times watching Lionel Messi you get the feeling real sporting genius lies in being able to do the outlandishly good every day, to be routinely out of the ordinary. If there is a criticism, it is perhaps simply that on a night like this his match-turning moments can almost seem too humdrum, too reliably ever-present.'

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/24/barcelona-lionel-messi-arsenal

The most liked comment under the article:

''He's the best player of all time. No player has been as consistently good as he is every week.I doubt we'll ever see anyone as good as him again either. He's like Maradona and Pele combined.''

 

[FCBarca]

Anyone with that gif of Messi at a press conference, smiling and then getting up to walk out?

 

[ini4ever]

Lower your exceptions of him, it doesn't mean it's ok if he's not as effective as been previous years in more matches because he won't be, he's genius he knows how to be adapted on his remaining days ahead but not like dribble many players, moving a lot , and make chances as possible as much
The most important key here is he still can make us winner in important matches and that's world-class players do. The rest ( quality of performances ) don't need to be discussed much as they'll be getting older.

 

[raskolnikov]

Lower your exceptions of him, it doesn't mean it's ok if he's not as effective as been previous years in more matches because he won't be, he's genius he knows how to be adapted on his remaining days ahead but not like dribble many players, moving a lot , and make chances as possible as much
The most important key here is he still can make us winner in important matches and that's world-class players do. The rest ( quality of performances ) don't need to be discussed much as they'll be getting older.

I dont think im ready to lower my expectations of Messi just yet. Maybe in 3 years

 

[Topolino]

Don't have to. He's still at his best. The games tactics were different yesterday and he did brilliantly.

 

[El Flaco]

No more "he can't score vs cech or in england". Great stuff. Thank you, Messi

And it's not exactly the first time Messi has proven people wrong in his entire career.
Just like these examples from below.

In 2009: "Messi can't score a goal against clubs from England & can't score a header". Manchester United conceded a header from Messi in the UCL-final

In 2012: "Messi can't perform with Xaviesta". Messi scored 91 goals (8 assists by Iniesta & 5 assists by Xavi) in that calender year and it's acknowledged as a WR by Guinness World Records. Also, the whole "messidepencia-era" was started at that year.

In 2014: "Messi can't perform well in Argentina senior team as he does in Barcelona". Messi was the best player in WC & Copa America and would've won these two tournaments if Palacio & Higuain didn't wasted their great chances against Germany and Chile.

In 2015 (pre-Anoeta): "Messi is pretty much washed-up and his best days are truly over". The Argentine was indisputable instrumental when Barca was the first club to ever win a second treble and was the absolute best player last year.

 

[Kerrybai]

I hope the penalty debate is settled now.

 

[Messi983]

i noticed someone in the previous page saying that messi run about 8.4km .. plz i need a website or any source that constantly provides the distance covered by players whether Laliga or the champions league .. i appreciate in advance

You can find all stats for CL matches in UEFA.com

Stats for Arsenal match: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...live/day=7/session=3/match=2015766/index.html (just click on a player you want to see and scroll down)

Complete stats for all CL matches so far: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle.../round=2000634/players/index.html#order=3desc (direct link probably won't work so only select Barcelona in "filter by team" to have easier overview)


I don't know if there is a site that follows distance covered by single player in La Liga games. There are all kind of different statistics in Barça's official site but they don't include what you're looking for.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/fc-barcelona-statistics-in-la-liga-season-2015-2016

 

[RMU ReBorn]