10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[MIXA]

Messi gives Barcelona the cutting edge to compete on all fronts. With Messi in the team, you EXPECT to win trophies. Without Messi, you HOPE to win trophies. That is the big difference.

To anyone who thinks that he can be easily replaced, just think about this. Messi is the best winger, he is the best central midfielder, he is the best attacking midfielder, he is the best striker, he is the best dead ball specialist. He is the best player in every forward position in any role. Is there any player out there who can match that?

Messi's multiple abilities is the reason why this team has not yet been so badly exposed with it's poor midfield. Take Messi out of the equation, and the 4-0 result against PSG will occur on a more regular basis.

 

[BBZ8800]

Not to mention we made the PSG comeback in which messi was nothing special. I keep hearing that "remove messi and you will be nothing" too often. We will still be a top top club. We used to have arguably the best midfield duo ever sometime back and we have arguably the best front trio ever right now. We have always been strong even without messi.

We won't be nothing without Messi.
But for example, remove Messi and insert Dybala and you have:

Top2 clubs:
1. RM and Bayern
2. random next 5 clubs of equal strength and of a somewhat similar mental strength: Barcelona, Atletico, Juventus, Chelsea, Man City.

Once in 5-10 years, we'll win a CL.
On other 8-9 occasions, we will lose against more or less any tougher team in quarters and semis.
Just check our past from 90s and 00s, and that's how it will be.

Tons of epic, bad luck and unbelievable defeats year after year.
When you thought that you have seen everything and that we have finally learned our lessons, Barca just managed to lose in another insane way in the next year.

You'll probably reply: but we have Neymar, Suarez and xx (Dybala).
Their skills and mental skills aren't any better than of all Barca's teams from the past.
(If you'll reply now: Neymar proved his mental strength against Psg. Well, so did our other former players. All of them were insane in one match and average in the next big match, which is why we were always hot and cold.
Messi is the guy who turned our hot and cold history into a more or less "constantly hot history".

You'll cry for these days in 3-4 years.

 

[BBZ8800]

I can put only 3 videos in one post, so I'll make 2 posts.

Barcelona without Messi in 90s and 00s:
1997/98, knocked out in a group stage by Dynamo Kiev and Newcastle:

= Rivaldo, Figo, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Giovanni

1998/1999:
-- knocked out in a group stage by Man Utd and Bayern, a future finalists:

1999/2000:
-- knocked out in semis by Valencia:

 

[BBZ8800]

2000/01:
-- knocked out in a group stage again, by Milan and Leeds:

2001/02:
-- knocked out in semis by Real 0:2 and 1:1

2002/03, knocked out by Juve in quarters, by a stupid 1:2 extra time defeat when we had 11:10 players at Camp Nou:

 

[clemente]

When Messi was injured on september it pretty much summed up how we would look like without him

 

[Horatio]

When Messi was injured on september it pretty much summed up how we would look like without him

The season before we played pretty good without him though.

 

[xavi_the_Boss]

The season before we played pretty good without him though.

We probably played our best football around that time.

 

[KingLeo10]

messi won us the 10-11 and 14-15 CL semis virtually on his own...against real madrid and bayern munich. that's the cutting edge, the difference between an all time great side and a great one which madrid bayern and even juve are these days. no one is disputing that we'd be great without messi, we would have won trophies with xavi and iniesta, or neymar and suarez now in the absence of messi. but hardly anyone would talk about barcelona the way they do without messi.

 

[dakt]

What is utterly amazing about human nature is how quickly some tend to forget. And that seems to be the case even with Messi, the GOAT taken for granted.

 

[JerseyAddict]

Who scored 2 goals against ManUtd in UCL finals? Mickey Mouse?

 

[JamDav1982]

Messi is the cutting edge that has made Barca in recent times the best club side ever but the team since 2008 would still been one of best in World and challenging for La Liga and CL just less likely to win them.

One player can only do so much and he has been the best player in some amazing all round teams he didnt just arrive in 2005 and start winning trophies single handed. There have been all time great playing at their peaks and the likes of Pep that deserve huge credit.

 

[FlaFCB]

Messi is the cutting edge that has made Barca in recent times the best club side ever but the team since 2008 would still been one of best in World and challenging for La Liga and CL just less likely to win them.

One player can only do so much and he has been the best player in some amazing all round teams he didnt just arrive in 2005 and start winning trophies single handed. There have been all time great playing at their peaks and the likes of Pep that deserve huge credit.

I don't think there was anything wrong with your posts, jamdav. It was the follow up that went on about how Messi doesn't make much of a difference on his own, etc.

Nothing wrong with this, as I agree:

Thats not true. Even without Messi this Barca team would easily be top four and most likely top two.

He is the best around for now and makes Barca more likely to win but the team is built around him with him in it so of course he will get a lot of important goals etc.

Poorer without him and less likely to win trophies but never be out of top four.

 

[El Flaco]

For a couple of days ago, Messi made an interview with the Mexico version of magazine Esquire

Some translated quotes from Messi

[tw]849383922697994241[/tw]

[tw]849386582524166144[/tw]

[tw]849384238822682624[/tw]

[tw]849384620353359872[/tw]

[tw]849386207058546692[/tw]

[tw]849384835097513986[/tw]

 

[Total-Football]

I love the last quote.. Ain't no thing more important in life than people whom you love and cherish.

 

[Neymessi]

As if we'd win anything with the current squad, without Messi. I'm not really surprised with some of those comments, though, I've seen worse

Barça became a juggernaut with Messi. Take him out, and we'd have no treble, or the domination from the past +10 years. Of course Barça will still be a top team, it's a rich club. But it won't be like it is today. Check rm's trophies haul since Messi debuted for Barça. And they're the richest. It's weird seeing some taking him for granted, or trying to downplay the influence he had for more than a decade now.

My post was directed to those who believe 'we are nothing without messi'. We would still have been pretty strong for the last many years and no one would bet on us not winning any major trophy.

My friends who are fans of epl clubs like manu and liverpool keep saying to me that once messi will retire we will be like them and if there was no messi in the first place we would have stayed like them. So these are the kind of arguments I am addressing. Without messi we won't be close to what many people think.

What you mentioned is fairly obvious and I don't think anyone even apart from me claimed otherwise. People just go really berserk here even if you aren't criticizing messi.

Hope this clears my stand and that he is the last player I would take for granted.