If Ronaldo plays badly, what it generally means is that Juve miss some or many of their chances. If Messi plays badly, what it generally means is that our entire offense collapses.
I haven't seen this line the first time, sorry.
What you said is true.
But that is imo another problem.
Messi is a kind of player around whom you HAVE to build a team, as you can see at Barca and Argentina.
Every action goes through him (playmaking) and majority of assists/shots go through him.
On La Liga level, that is a good thing, since majority of opponents are not THAT good so that they could totally stop Messi.
On a CL level (Juve, Bayern, Atletico, Chelsea, Roma), majority of teams have learned how to PHYSICALLY neutralize Messi.
On some rare matches, he will find his way no matter what, but roughly (not a fact, just me pulling numbers from my ass), lately Messi's KO matches look like this:
1. one awesome match
2. one average match
3. 3 matches below his standards where he was only walking, being neutralized easily, we conceded a goal for 0:1 after 30 minutes and he gave up and started sulking
Now, this is where Messi-pendencia jumps in.
Since Messi is our brain in every single action, and we are used to pass all the balls to him and everyone are looking for him around the box...
What is happening in a CL?
= big teams know that.
In terms of creation, in a CL Messi is forced to drop deep to get the ball. And then he has like 7-8 opponents infront of him, and there is not much what he can do.
If he passes to someone else, that player will AGAIN look for Messi, for some 1-2s, or for Messi to shoot from the edge of a box.
And everyone and their dog KNOW THAT.
Getafe can't neutralize Messi, but Juve/Bayern can.
And then, when 2-3 players man mark Messi, he can't do too much in creation.
And each pass to Messi around the box (which means our EVERY SINGLE action) is easily predicted and intercepted by the opponents.
And what happens then?
Messi can't create too much.
And Messi can't get into goal scoring opportunities.
Can someone else in our team take the reigns and create something? NO, since our team is built around Messi and no one is used to take a charge.
In terms of shooting, since no one is creating anything, Messi is just walking at the edge of a box, and all balls towards him are intercepted.
And then he often just starts to sulk and gives up.
If we score early, we are fine and Messi is happy and motivated.
If things go wrong, and we struggle or even concede, we are deep problems.
Our brain don't have any ideas, he will give up and no one else is used to take a charge.
Now, let's go to CR7 in a CL.
Is he a creator? No.
Is he a scorer? Yes.
When Juve/Atletico man mark Messi with 2-3 players=our creation is dead.
When Juve/Atletico man mark CR7, Real's creation is NOT dead because Kroos, Modric, Isco will have even more room to create.
So, if CR7 won't create=his team won't suffer.
In terms of shooting and off the ball movement: the only way for Messi to shoot is:
1. dribble past 5 and create a chance on his own, which rarely happens in a CL since he is forced to drop down deep
2. to get the ball at the edge of a box by a teammate, which again won't happen since EVERYONE know that all balls will go to Messi and they are just intercepting majority of passes to him, or 2 strong defenders will just tackle, push or foul him.
CR7:
If he can't get the ball at the edge of a box, no problem.
He will just run into a box and wait for crosses. And since he has awesome off the ball movement and positioning/strength in the air, he will easily get into 4-5 scoring opportunities in the box in every match.
So, my point is:
In a team where Messi plays, since everything is built around him, if he is having a bad day or if he is neutralized=the whole team will crumble.
No one will be able to create without Messi.
And no one will shoot on goal, without Messi.
In CR7's teams=he is not responsible for a creation.
If he is man marked by 2 players, his team will still create as normal.
On the other hand, he will always be able to get into chances either after regular crosses, crosses after corners or crosses after free kicks.
As you see, in my post, I didn't say a SINGLE word who is a better player.
That is irrelevant for my post.
Messi is better. Messi is a better allrounder.
But again, imo, at a CL level, Messi aged 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 is easy to neutralize and due to a nature of Messi's teams, when he is (easily neutralized), the whole team loses all ideas.
And that happened more or less in every match lately: Aletic, Atletico, Psg, Juve, Roma.
Messi is neutralized in the same fashion, and our team is dead afterwards.
