The "Messi: the best player in the world. Is it even up for discussion?" thread

Messi now has 30 goals in first half of the season?

It would be great duel between Ron and Falcao if wasnt Messi existence

Messi is now all time leading goalscore for Barcelona with 194 goals. Previous record is 192 by Cesar Rodriguez.

Another interesting stat. Messi is now 7 goals from Crynaldo's career goal tally (in clubs). Overall it's 13 goals. Of course Messi is younger and has around 150 less games.

C Ronaldo scoring ratio is like 0.57 compare to Messi 0.8
its not even close

Speaking of Neymar, if anyone is ever going to break that record of 86 (and counting) goals that Messi just set, I think it will happen in Brazil. They play so many games down there. Basically the same what Barca plays plus an extra 20 or so games for the State championships (which are mostly against really weak opposition).

Please get to 90 Leo. Just for the hell of it

Interesting point. Let's take Neymar who would be a clear candidate to achieve that. Had he played most Brasileirao games for Santos ( he only played 17 with 14 goals) he could have scored more. His total for 2012 for Santos was 43. Let's say he played 34 games and extrapolate his GPG average giving 28 goals in the league. That would put him at 57 with Santos alone. Granted he missed quite a bit of those games to be with Brazil. But he really only played 11 times for the NT which is pretty normal. Actually a bunch of the games he missed for Santos was because of the Olympics and he didn't score much there. So 57 + 9 = 66. Not bad for his age.

A few points that would still make it difficult:

- The Brasileirao, having more leveled competition compared to La Liga, is actually tough for forwards to score large numbers of goals. Most top scorers score 20-25 goals in a season with the odd high 20s low 30s.

- The regional leagues have been in danger of being terminated for while now. Not sure how long they will last.

- And in Neymar's case, he'd have to stay in Brazil for at least part of his prime. Which is unlikely. And Santos would have to keep making the into the Libertadores (or other SA Copas) and/or Copa do Brasil which may also be unlikely. For that to happen Santos would have to build a stronger and deeper team, which is not happening at the moment.

If someone from Brazil ever score more 75 goals in a year, I wonder what Pele would say

Probably like he once said, the ball that used back in the day was much harder and not as soft as today.

And all of these years later . . .

Messi still excited to get in the same pic with Puyol.

If someone like Ronaldo came along again, the record could be in jeopardy even if they leave Brazil before their prime. No offense to Neymar, but he isn't developing as quickly and probably only has one more full calendar year left in Brazil.
If Ronaldo was still playing in Brazil at age 20 or 21 who knows how many goals he would have racked-up. He was already a 1.2 GPG man for Cruzeiro by age 17 and scored 15 goals for Brazil in 1997 alone.

Also this song is for Messi

I see your Esposito. And raise one R. Kelly.

Taken from our forum:

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...-freut-sich-fuer-messi_er-ist-ein-gigant.html

Der Bomber: "40 Jahre hat mein Rekord gehalten, jetzt hat der beste Fußballer der Welt ihn gebrochen", sagte Müller am Tag danach und ergänzte: "Ich freue mich für ihn. Messi ist fantastisch. Er hat eigentlich nur einen Fehler: Er spielt nicht für den FC Bayern. Er ist ein unglaublicher Spieler, ein Gigant und dabei ein so sympathischer und eher zurückhaltender Profi."
Müller wünscht seinem Nachfolger sogar noch das eine oder andere Erfolgserlebnis mehr: "Ich hoffe, dass ihm in den restlichen Spielen des Jahres 2012 noch der ein oder andere Treffer gelingt und sein Rekord dann für die nächsten 40 Jahre hält."

English: "My record held up for 40 years, now the best footballer in the world has broken it," said Müller the day after. He added, "I'm happy for him. Messi is fantastic. He actually only has one fault: he doesn't play for FC Bayern. He is an unbelievable player, a giant, and moreover a likable and modest professional."
Müller wished his successor even more success: "I hope he manages a few more goals in the rest of his games in 2012 and that his own record holds up for the next 40 years."

Gerd Müller: pure class! A bit of humor too (the part about not playing for Bayern)

Dont worry, Pele will claim he's scored more than Muller and Messi combined

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/etoo-messi-god-230000498--sow.html

"Messi is a god, as a person and even more as a player," he told RT. "I hope that he wins the World Cup with Argentina. To the gods of the world, all I ask is that you give him that chance, because I have seen him grow. I can only hope for the best, because I have seen and know what a good boy he is."

"He is a genius, and not just in football. The day I was upset, I did not play well, but when you saw him arrive in the locker room with a smile on his face, you knew he was going to roll," said Eto'o

Hey I just learned some German, thanks Dhajj.

and...

Too bad it didn't stand.