10 - Lionel Messi - v5

[Ripsta]

Ronaldo's just scored again in Europe - anyone confident Messi can overtake his record by the time they retire? Kind of pityful how it's turned out over the last four years or so, Messi's been a bitter disappointment in the competition save the treble season.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

Ronaldo's just scored again in Europe - anyone confident Messi can overtake his record by the time they retire? Kind of pityful how it's turned out over the last four years or so, Messi's been a bitter disappointment in the competition save the treble season.

I don't think so, but Messi's done himself no favours with the way he's been putting on disappearing acts in the CL knockouts in recent years.

 

[Aryagorn]

CR7 has played 30 matches more than Leo but has only 17 goals more, so, Leo scored at a better rate.

And with Leo's insistence on playing in the center, there's a pretty good chance that he will start banging them in again sooner or later, hopefully

 

[JamDav1982]

Dont really care if Ronaldo gets more CL goals just want Messi to up his performances against the top sides more often.

 

[SeloBarca]

With Messi moving further down the field and thus scoring less + having shit players around him, the club has pretty much given away the ballon to Ronaldo the last years.
Its not that Ronaldo has become better, its more that Messi has had to carry a much heavier load while Ronaldo has a team built around him more than ever.

 

[JamDav1982]

With Messi moving further down the field and thus scoring less + having shit players around him, the club has pretty much given away the ballon to Ronaldo the last years.
Its not that Ronaldo has become better, its more that Messi has had to carry a much heavier load while Ronaldo has a team built around him more than ever.

While Messi had a far better team than Ronaldo in the past.

Messi has been poor in a lot of the CL knock out games against better opposition in recent years and needs to get better in them if wants to win balon dor again.

 

[raskolnikov]

Real spoonfeed Ronaldo 6/7 chances a match while Messi needs to create for us. Its obvious that if you are a poacher with a strong team built around you you are going to end up scoring more. Same goes for Lewa for example.
Truth is our team has just been weaker than top sides in recent tears while Real is equal or better and it shows.
Us having never properly replaced Xavi and Iniesta declining is what is causing all this.

 

[JamDav1982]

Real spoonfeed Ronaldo 6/7 chances a match while Messi needs to create for us. Its obvious that if you are a poacher with a strong team built around you you are going to end up scoring more. Same goes for Lewa for example.
Truth is our team has just been weaker than top sides in recent tears while Real is equal or better and it shows.
Us having never properly replaced Xavi and Iniesta declining is what is causing all this.

No they dont. Real play to Ronaldos strengths as Barca have to Messis.

Messi has been far too quiet in too many big CL games in recent years.

Can easily flip the argument and say Messi was only at his best with Iniesta and Xavi peak which is not the case.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

With Messi moving further down the field and thus scoring less + having shit players around him, the club has pretty much given away the ballon to Ronaldo the last years.
Its not that Ronaldo has become better, its more that Messi has had to carry a much heavier load while Ronaldo has a team built around him more than ever.

This still does not excuse him from going AWOL against Atletico in 15/16 and PSG and Juventus in 16/17 (yes I know he made a few good passes but that's not nearly enough). If Messi had been in even decent form in the 2nd half of 15/16 we could've repeated as treble winners. His performance in that 2nd leg against Atletico was shocking and inexcusable.

As much as I love Messi he's been disappearing in big games as of late (last 4-5 years or so). Couldn't create a single goal in 3 international finals, flopping against Madrid for the most part (3-2 from last season the exception), walking and looking disinterested in big CL matches etc.

He's been coming up huge recently though like that 3-2 win against Madrid and that godly performance to carry Argentina to the WC. Let's just hope that this trend continues.

 

[JamDav1982]

This still does not excuse him from going AWOL against Atletico in 15/16 and PSG and Juventus in 16/17 (yes I know he made a few good passes but that's not nearly enough). If Messi had been in even decent form in the 2nd half of 15/16 we could've repeated as treble winners. His performance in that 2nd leg against Atletico was shocking and inexcusable.

As much as I love Messi he's been disappearing in big games as of late (last 4-5 years or so). Couldn't create a single goal in 3 international finals, flopping against Madrid for the most part (3-2 from last season the exception), walking and looking disinterested in big CL matches etc.

He's been coming up huge recently though like that 3-2 win against Madrid and that godly performance to carry Argentina to the WC. Let's just hope that this trend continues.

That Madrid game Madrid played open game as thought could batter Barca to effectively win title. Ecuador played open as well with nothing to lose.

Against the top sides who defend deep and defend well Messi has struggled and almost seems to run out of ideas. He has become easier to stop than Ronaldo in those games in recent years and part of that is down to his movement and players giving him ball too often in those games.

 

[raskolnikov]

No they dont. Real play to Ronaldos strengths as Barca have to Messis.

Messi has been far too quiet in too many big CL games in recent years.

Can easily flip the argument and say Messi was only at his best with Iniesta and Xavi peak which is not the case.

Anything you say is just to go against the grain and argue so whats the point?
Messi been quiet because we as a team were weaker or tactically beaten. If Real got bossed around in midfield and they dont get the ball to Ronaldo he dissapears even quicker since he cant create anything for himself.
Truth is Ronaldo has been carried a great deal by a strong team in several matches when the going got tough while our team only went looking for Messi to do something.
Only match where it was similair to Real stepping it up for Ronaldo was Neymar vs Psg.

 

[JamDav1982]

Anything you say is just to go against the grain and argue so whats the point?
Messi been quiet because we as a team were weaker or tactically beaten. If Real got bossed around in midfield and they dont get the ball to Ronaldo he dissapears even quicker since he cant create anything for himself.
Truth is Ronaldo has been carried a great deal by a strong team in several matches when the going got tough while our team only went looking for Messi to do something.
Only match where it was similair to Real stepping it up for Ronaldo was Neymar vs Psg.

Nope anything to give opnion and this crap people seem to come out with about it never being on Messi .

Predicable shit from likes of you though.

Ronaldo has been better and more effective in the bigger CL games. Try to bend rules and find excuses all you like but Messi needs to step it up.

Again can say Messi only really functioned at his maximum when had best ever team around him as well. So no different really.

 

[Ousmane Dembélé]

That Madrid game Madrid played open game as thought could batter Barca to effectively win title. Ecuador played open as well with nothing to lose.

Against the top sides who defend deep and defend well Messi has struggled and almost seems to run out of ideas. He has become easier to stop than Ronaldo in those games in recent years and part of that is down to his movement and players giving him ball too often in those games.

Yup, his off ball movement is atrocious these days. He just stands still in once place and basically choreographs to the opponent where he's going to receive the ball. So all the opposition have to do is send a couple players to stand close to him and cut out his supply. He needs create more space for himself and make more runs to get the ball in space.

Also I think Messi is one of the only players whom I watched where I can tell whether he's going to have a good match from the first 5 minutes or so. From the second I saw Messi put Casemiro on his backside in that match against Madrid last season I knew he came to play and was going to have a great match and other times when I see him get repeatedly get dispossessed and look lifeless in possession I can tell he's not up for the match. He does occasionally turn a bad match individually into a good one after half time, but this doesn't occur all that frequently.

A lot of the time in the big CL matches Messi doesn't come ready to play and looks mentally absent, he needs to be able to figure out a way to turn in himself on and get himself up for the big matches. Too often he looks like he doesn't even want to be on the pitch. I believe this a mental barrier and can be overcome with a few tweaks to his lifestyle and mentality.

 

[Horatio]

Can easily flip the argument and say Messi was only at his best with Iniesta and Xavi peak which is not the case.

How did you flip the argument there. That's exactly the point. Messi got to score more easily with better players around him.

 

[raskolnikov]

This still does not excuse him from going AWOL against Atletico in 15/16 and PSG and Juventus in 16/17 (yes I know he made a few good passes but that's not nearly enough). If Messi had been in even decent form in the 2nd half of 15/16 we could've repeated as treble winners. His performance in that 2nd leg against Atletico was shocking and inexcusable.

As much as I love Messi he's been disappearing in big games as of late (last 4-5 years or so). Couldn't create a single goal in 3 international finals, flopping against Madrid for the most part (3-2 from last season the exception), walking and looking disinterested in big CL matches etc.

He's been coming up huge recently though like that 3-2 win against Madrid and that godly performance to carry Argentina to the WC. Let's just hope that this trend continues.

Its not Messi’s fault there is severe messidependencia in Argentina and Barca. If Higuain could finish chances like he does his pizza they would have 1/2 trophies. Against Chile they just crowd him in midfield like Atletico and Juve did, 4 players constantly on him while all the other players do nothing. What should he do then? Similair to when you would isolate Ronaldo and the team does nothing.