Whoscored: Although I don't agree with isolated analysis of stats since they probably count from useless dribbles and tap-ins along with important goals and chances created out of nothing and also don't count the subjective aspects of the thing, the decisions made, clutch moments, the influence,the leadership etc but these are the stats... Neymar > Messi here but this assuming all leagues are on the same level, I particularly think the Premier League is much more competitive than the French League and La Liga tho... much more. That's why I value more De Bruyne's consistency or a Salah who played terribly well than a Messi making hattricks against Deportivo Alaves. La Liga is tremendously overrated defensively, they prefer to let the players make the goal than take the risk of hurting them, big players can fix their stats there and that's why I think Messi in the TOP2 and Neymar out of TOP10 is absurd too, even though Neymar played less. Here's a good video of his season:
Neymar got injured in February and you legit believe he had a better season? Messi showed up against Madrid, Atletico, Valencia, Sevilla and basically finished the league season unbeaten. Also had good performances vs Juve & Chelsea. Neymar was PSG's standout performer in their first leg against Bayern, but wasn't clearly so against the other competitive sides in his league (Monaco, Marseille, Lyon), I think he even missed the away match vs Lyon if I'm not wrong, who were their closest challengers. I can't remember if Messi scored hattricks against Deportivo Alaves, but his best performance of the season was surely at the Bernabeu against Madrid. The argument for Neymar over Messi or even KDB, Salah, CR7 and a few others is a very weak one IMO. For what it's worth, I believe Thauvin & Fekir were were better than him in his own league.
I agree with you that it is a weak argument (leadership). But for me it does set the top guys apart. It was not Sampaoli's or Valverde's tactics that got Messi knocked out of both tournaments. It was the god himself. Denying a god is not easy but let's do hold them responsible. PSG's tournament knock out had to do with the absence of their star player in one of the legs. So there's a positive relation concerning Neymar. Neymar only pulls strings on the pitch in contrast to Messi. Had both won a tournament, then it would only be fair to give Messi the bigger claim.
Oh really? Argentina conceding 9 goals in 4 games (the most per game) has nothing to do with Sampaolis tactics? Not to mention several sitters that Iceland, Nigeria, Croatia missed after defensive errors.. Yeah, Messi probably should have pulled the strings together defensively, because thats what leaders do? Thats what pele, maradona, cristiano did in their international thriumphs?
They recently held the Gran Gala Del Calcio to award the best players of last season: https://forzaitalianfootball.com/2018/12/gran-gala-del-calcio-2018-all-the-winners/ Their team of the season: Best XI (4-3-1-2): Alisson; Cancelo, Koulibaly, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Pjanic, Milinkovic-Savic, Nainggolan; Dybala; Icardi, Immobile. Their nominees by position: GK: Alisson, Buffon, Handanovic, Donnarumma Full-back: Joao Cancelo, Kolarov, Sandro CB: De Vrij, Manolas, Skriniar, Koulibaly, Chiellini MF: Allan, Jorginho, Hamsik, Milinkovic-Savic, Pjanic, Nainggolan Attack: Dybala, Dzeko, Icardi, Immobile, Douglas Costa, Mertens
https://www.transfermarkt.com/mario...aten/spieler/45146/saison/2017/wettbewerb/FR1 Mario Balotelli: Last 10 Nice appearancesVs Dijon ⚽️Vs Zulte-Waregem ⚽️⚽️⭐️Vs Lyon ❌Vs Toulouse ⚽️Vs Metz ⚽️Vs Nantes ⚽️Vs Lille ⚽️Vs Bordeaux ⚽️Vs Amiens ❌Vs Monaco ⚽️⚽️⭐️Full player stats -- https://t.co/nS8hamWu6K pic.twitter.com/4IAgwo7PbI— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) January 17, 2018 26 goals+2 assists in 38 appearances 1.9 accurate balls per 90 27.4 passes per 90 1.2 Kp per 90 This are solid stats Arguably one of the best performers of the French division and by extension possibly a top 50 player in Europe during 17/18