10 - Lionel Messi - v4

[Stric]

To this day I still can't believe he celebrated like that after scoring a penalty to make it 4-1. Just mind-boggling stuff.

But regardless of that, the gifs make me want to puke, as well.

 

[Younes Lamrani]

Those gifs make me want to puke. Ramos and co won Ronaldo this last balon dor. No way he wins if Atletico would've won the champions league.

I personally think he would have won it wheter he lost the CL or win it , because simply there's no Integrity in FIFA , Thank god Blater Left ! Now im pretty sure Messi is the next Balon d'Or

 

[Morten]

Those gifs make me want to puke. Ramos and co won Ronaldo this last balon dor. No way he wins if Atletico would've won the champions league.

You could say that, but Messi would have won it if they had beat Germany.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

You could say that, but Messi would have won it if they had beat Germany.

Exactly, cristiano was gifted the ballon by ramos, di maria and modric while messi had to do it all on his own. Where was higuain, aguero, palacio?
And after making it to the final and losing, some people still have the nerve to say that he didn't have a good tournament.

 

[Morten]

Exactly, cristiano was gifted the ballon by ramos, di maria and modric while messi had to do it all on his own. Where was higuain, aguero, palacio?
And after making it to the final and losing, some people still have the nerve to say that he didn't have a good tournament.

I always found it ridiculous to say that Messi dragged them to the final alone, he did not. Argentine had a great defence,alot of credit should be given to them as well. But of course, he was by far theirmost dangerous player going forward, no doubt about that.

 

[Vlom]

I always found it ridiculous to say that Messi dragged them to the final alone, he did not. Argentine had a great defence,alot of credit should be given to them as well. But of course, he was by far theirmost dangerous player going forward, no doubt about that.

They would absolutely not have left the group stage without him, that much is for sure, so technically, he did get them there by himself.

 

[Bran the Greenseer]

He was involved in like all but one goal that they scored the entire tournament.

 

[Sumlit]

I always found it ridiculous to say that Messi dragged them to the final alone, he did not. Argentine had a great defence,alot of credit should be given to them as well. But of course, he was by far theirmost dangerous player going forward, no doubt about that.

Argentina did not have a good defense. They did not have a good defense through the qualifiers, and they did not have a good defense through the group stages. It wasn't until their offense crumbled that they decided to play conservative and pretty much forget about any offensive creation other than what Messi could fabricate from thin air.

 

[lessthanjake]

Hahaha that celebration is hilarious. I didn't watch last year's CL final (couldn't bear it, since I was pretty sure Real Madrid would win), so I didn't know he did that.

Ugh, I do wonder if Ronaldo would've won the Ballon D'or last year if they lost the CL final (which, obviously, they very nearly did). Messi did have his worst individual year, Barcelona won zero trophies, and Argentina did not win the WC, so it's not like Messi had a super compelling case. Even in a down year, though, I think Messi was slightly better in La Liga than Ronaldo. Despite being fairly disappointing by his lofty standards, Messi was also better than Ronaldo in the World Cup. He also played better in the CdR, but RM won the CdR, so that is kind of a wash. But Ronaldo was definitely better in last year's Champions League. Messi wasn't bad in the CL, but Ronaldo was really really good. So I think they were actually pretty close overall last season in performance, Ronaldo having a sizable edge in the CL, while Messi had a decent edge in every other competition. Overall, I tend to think Messi still played slightly better overall, but that RM getting the CL tipped the balance in Ronaldo's favor. Without winning the CL, though, we'd have Messi playing slightly better overall and Ronaldo winning the CdR while Messi made the WC finals. To me that equals a very close victory for Messi, but who knows.

 

[KingMessi]

The other day I imagined Messi scoring in the CL final and then doing this:

It would be the ultimate slap in the face.

It's hilarious how he tilts his head and looks around as he does the celebration.

Like in this celebration below; just follow his eyes.

 

[Morten]

Argentina did not have a good defense. They did not have a good defense through the qualifiers, and they did not have a good defense through the group stages. It wasn't until their offense crumbled that they decided to play conservative and pretty much forget about any offensive creation other than what Messi could fabricate from thin air.

From my memory Argentine did great in defence, lead by Mascherano. They hardly conceded any goals and they really stood out in the last few knockouts imo.

 

[KingMessi]

From my memory Argentine did great in defence, lead by Mascherano. They hardly conceded any goals and they really stood out in the last few knockouts imo.

They were fantastic in the knockout rounds. But Argentina's defense was largely mediocre in the group stages. One need only watch the Iran and Nigeria games again.

Not to mention that they were nothing special in the qualification rounds.

 

[lessthanjake]

Exactly, cristiano was gifted the ballon by ramos, di maria and modric while messi had to do it all on his own. Where was higuain, aguero, palacio?
And after making it to the final and losing, some people still have the nerve to say that he didn't have a good tournament.

I agree to an extent. First of all, people unfairly discount Messi's group stage performance simply because the group looked easy on paper. But the fact is that they would not gotten out of the group without his goals. He really was immense for them. Definitely the best player of the group stages for me. But it is undoubtedly true that he was not particularly great in the knockout stages. He wasn't bad and generally was Argentina's most dangerous attacking player (you are right that the other attackers were bad), but plenty of players in the tournament played better in the knockout stages than he did. I'd probably say 10-20 players were better than him in the knockout stages, including a few Argentina defensive players like Mascherano and Garay. Overall, I think he was still among the top handful of players in the tournament though. So, yeah, he had a good tournament. But in the knockout stages he was far below his normal level. Of course, that makes sense given that he was almost certainly unfit. But the fact remains.

I wish the World Cup had been in a different year. For instance, if it were held in 2012, I think Messi would have been unstoppable (though, perhaps Spain was still unstoppable back then too, so maybe he wouldn't have won then either). His form is really good now though, so perhaps he'll get this summer's Copa America.

 

[spark]

Hahaha that celebration is hilarious. I didn't watch last year's CL final (couldn't bear it, since I was pretty sure Real Madrid would win), so I didn't know he did that.

This was his actual celebration. Notice the scoreline and the minute of the game

 

[lessthanjake]

This was his actual celebration. Notice the scoreline and the minute of the game

Hahahaha I love it! He's such a clown