Lionel "The Greatest of All Time" Messi

[KingLeo10]

? messis performance in the KO stage in the past few years has been just as crappy, lol. you really dont want to go there

Since EV started/MSN ended (17-18), Messi's scored the 2nd most CL KO goals I believe (3, 6, 1, 2 = 12), after CR7 (6, 5, 2, 0 = 13). Lewandowski has scored (2,0,4,2 = 8).

It's "crap" for prime Messi standards, but pretty good even for world class standards. He's comfortably above Lewa, for example with a worse team than Bayern of the last few years. I'm not saying he's a better player than Lewa OF TODAY, but it's easy to exaggerate without looking at the numbers.

EDIT: I will have to double check Lewa's numbers (I'm fairly certain about Messi/CR7) but this is what I remember.

 

[DonAK]

His KO performances in 2018/19 was great and that was two years ago.

Really criminal how we managed to fuck that up. Messi been criticized heavily for some of his KO performances last few years and in some cases rightly so due to his passive play, but the team really let him down that year.

 

[KingLeo10]

His KO performances in 2018/19 was great and that was two years ago.

Really criminal how we managed to fuck that up. Messi been criticized heavily for some of his KO performances last few years and in some cases rightly so due to his passive play, but the team really let him down that year.

Agree. I was very disappointed by his performance versus Roma and AM for example, but in recently years, he won the Chelsea and Man United ties on his own and almost got us home v an elite Pool side. So, it's not like he's been a complete no show with 0,1,2 goals in 10 games or something.

 

[DonAK]

Agree. I was very disappointed by his performance versus Roma and AM for example, but in recently years, he won the Chelsea and Man United ties on his own and almost got us home v an elite Pool side. So, it's not like he's been a complete no show with 0,1,2 goals in 10 games or something.

Yeah, and it's that Liverpool tie that completely sours me on Ernie too.

Like I think you could make a fair case for Valverde and the job he did at Barca given he took over the club in a very tough spot. I can let go of the Roma debacle, but that Liverpool collapse is a very tough pill to swallow. Whenever I think about Valverde I think about what happened at Anfield and as far as I'm concerned he lost all the goodwill he had earned that night.

You can blame some of the players and you definitely should, but you cannot lose back to back CL campaigns the way we did under Valverde with the leads we had. Liverpool missed multiple key players too.

 

[OGbarca]

praising his camp nou liverpool performance is, again, exactly like saying kaka and hernan crespo had a brilliant first half against liverpool in the 2005 CL final, and leaving it at that, making no mention of the calamity that ensued after

sorry, but that wasnt the end of the story. you cant take his 2019 home liverpool match out of context just because it suits your narrative

 

[DonAK]

praising his camp nou liverpool performance is, again, exactly like saying kaka and hernan crespo had a brilliant first half against liverpool in the 2005 CL final, and leaving it at that, making no mention of the calamity that ensued after

sorry, but that wasnt the end of the story. you cant take his 2019 home liverpool match and take it out of context just because it suits your narrative

Messi played a good game at Anfield too. Only Barca player who played well. Go back and watch that game. No single player can win a game on his own, but Messi certainly came the closest to pulling Barca through to the CL final that year.

You can criticize a lot of Messi's performances like KingLeo10 said, but if you want to trash him for 2018/19 then you're just being unfair or hating for the sake of it.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Yeah, and it's that Liverpool tie that completely sours me on Ernie too.

Like I think you could make a fair case for Valverde and the job he did at Barca given he took over the club in a very tough spot. I can let go of the Roma debacle, but that Liverpool collapse is a very tough pill to swallow. Whenever I think about Valverde I think about what happened at Anfield and as far as I'm concerned he lost all the goodwill he had earned that night.

You can blame some of the players and you definitely should, but you cannot lose back to back CL campaigns the way we did under Valverde with the leads we had. Liverpool missed multiple key players too.

I still think with the ball holding player Arthur instead of busi we would have won the tie against liverpool

 

[KingLeo10]

praising his camp nou liverpool performance is, again, exactly like saying kaka and hernan crespo had a brilliant first half against liverpool in the 2005 CL final, and leaving it at that, making no mention of the calamity that ensued after

sorry, but that wasnt the end of the story. you cant take his 2019 home liverpool match out of context just because it suits your narrative

Again, people don't criticize CR7 for when he only performs excellently in 1 leg (like say Juventus 17-18, for example). Difference is he had Ramos, Marcelo, Benz, Bale etc. to back him up unlike Messi who had Suarez (with his 2-3 CL KO goals in 4 years) and Dembele. When Messi had a strong crew of Xavi, Iniesta, Suarez (prime), Neymar(prime), Alves, he was dominating the CL without breaking a sweat too.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Messi played a good game at Anfield too. Only Barca player who played well. Go back and watch that game. No single player can win a game on his own, but Messi certainly came the closest to pulling Barca through to the CL final that year.

You can criticize a lot of Messi's performances like KingLeo10 said, but if you want to trash him for 2018/19 then you're just being unfair or hating for the sake of it.

You forgot Arturo

 

[OGbarca]

Messi played a good game at Anfield too. Only Barca player who played well. Go back and watch that game. No single player can win a game on his own, but Messi certainly came the closest to pulling Barca through to the CL final that year.

You can criticize a lot of Messi's performances like KingLeo10 said, but if you want to trash him for 2018/19 then you're just being unfair or hating for the sake of it.

on the contrary, i thought he was very good in 2018/2019, the closest he has come to his 2010-2015 levels. i simply disagree that he was all that against liverpool, considering the final outcome. messi gave up and was defeated by half time in anfield--im not sure we are talking about the same match. yes, he was great in the first leg, but in the second he was not, far from it. the point here is that you dont get to pick and choose which leg of a 2 legged tie youre going to make an argument from.

 

[OGbarca]

Again, people don't criticize CR7 for when he only performs excellently in 1 leg (like say Juventus 17-18, for example). Difference is he had Ramos, Marcelo, Benz, Bale etc. to back him up unlike Messi who had Suarez (with his 2-3 CL KO goals in 4 years) and Dembele. When Messi had a strong crew of Xavi, Iniesta, Suarez (prime), Neymar(prime), Alves, he was dominating the CL without breaking a sweat too.

i dont disagree and i dont think these points are mutually exclusive. cr did not deliver in the CL for juve

 

[DonAK]

on the contrary, i thought he was very good in 2018/2019, the closest he has come to his 2010-2015 levels. i simply disagree that he was all that against liverpool, considering the final outcome. messi gave up and was defeated by half time in anfield--im not sure we are talking about the same match. yes, he was great in the first leg, but in the second he was not, far from it. the point here is that you dont get to pick and choose which leg of a 2 legged tie youre going to make an argument from.

We'll just agree to disagree then as I have no intention to continue this back and forth tbh.

 

[OGbarca]

fine fine

 

[mc_lovin]

You forgot Arturo

Biggest myth for me. He was a headless chicken.

 

[SmilerBam]

They don't involve him in their play as much as they should. Messi is not another player that has to contribute and he's no poacher either to sleep the whole game and strike when time is right.

Best Messi is involved Messi. Starve him of the ball and he doesn't do well.

Yeah, he is been in a possesion based team all his life. And that is the style that suits, and that s why he would have flourished at City, even in a harder league.