Take Alba out and that is even more true. Argentina hasn't had great FBs for a long time. Don't underestimate he value of quality FBs.
^ Title is so depressing but true. Did you know that until last season vs Liverpool, every time Messi scored in a KO stage tie in the CL Barca won. That time he scored two goals and we lost it at Anfield. Same happened at the CDR vs Valencia and the other day against Atleti. Messi scoring and us still losing is happening more and more often.
Age at 700 career goals (official senior level) 32.6 Messi 32.11 Pele 34.? G.Müller 34.8 C.Ronaldo 38.? Puskas
Kind of funny that he would talk about that. In deep he knows that Fakenaldo has only one legit Ballon d'Or. Either that or he's insane.
Its like Mou talking shit about Messi during his time at Inter and RM, once he's free agent, he suddenly claimed Messi as the best lol
He shouldnt won it in 2008, he actually missed 3 crucial penalties in last part of that season. Missed his penalty in CL semifinal ,CL final and also in the league when they havent secured the title. Also, Tevez scored 2 late equalizers and 2 late winners and that really bailed MU in EPL that season. If Messi missed one crucial penalty, he would have been crucified as if the season failure was due to that penalty.
That's a harsh view. Have to give him credit regardless of those PK misses. He already had a better season the previous year than Kaka who won it.
Sarri saying it’s “annoying” that Messi has more Ballons than Cristiano, that’s fine. If he says Messi isn’t DESERVING of having more Ballons than Tristiano, then he’d be full of chit.
Yea, but everytime Messi won it, there would be naysayers that would only pointing at his failure. The 2010 Balon for intense, Messi didnt win CL and WC and lots of them said Xavi or Iniesta should have won it , not because they actually want them to win , but they just didnt want Messi to win it. Even though if its based on individual stats , Messi was clearly ahead of anyone. His stats that season was even better than CR in 2008 or himself in 2009.
Agreed. If it was Messi missing even one crucial penalty, there would an outcry among Cristiano fans and even many neutrals. Yet another example of how we hold Messi to a higher standard than any other footballer possibly even athlete. That being said, CR deserved the one in 2008 still because there was no one better to give it to. Messi was plagued by injuries and not yet in his prime form and the older generation fell off. Messi may lead just 6-5 in BDO awards but out of his 6 wins, you can't make a strong case that Ronaldo should have won any of them. Out of Cristiano's 5 wins though, one can make a strong argument for Messi for all of them except 2008. Messi missed a bunch of games in 2013 but when he played he was the better player and set some crazy records and neither man stood out in the CL. In 2014, Ronaldo won the CL scoring a lot of garbage time goals but Messi had a way better WC. In fact Messi had a better run than Modric in 2018 but he didn't have the narrative on his side. In 2016, Ronaldo went scoreless in SF and Final of CL, was a spectator in the Euro final and was generally underwhelming in that tournament only making an impact against Hungary and Wales. Messi choked in the final of Copa with that penalty but played on a very high level before that. In 2017, Ronaldo turned it on in a few CL important matches but was far behind Messi in the league. Ronaldo also had a horrific first half of 17-18 La Liga. Messi was a lot more consistent taking the entire year into account. What's a 6-5 lead could easily be like 8-3...
Guys, lay off the good stuff until the weekend, yeah? Ronaldo shouldn't have won in 2008? smh Its also pointless to compare across seasons. e.g. CR72008 to Messi 2010. There was a solid alternate option in 2010. Not so much in 2008.
Well a lot of us aren't comfortable with this false equivalence of Messi and Ronaldo LOL. Agree about the cross-season comparisons. Well that's what he's implying.
Dont forget Modric winning Balon was an ever bigger joke. They just tried so hard to erase the stigma that Balon has always been 2 man competition. Another example of different standard on jugding Messi performance... Modric won golden ball in 2018 with only 2 goals and 1 assist, CR fans and Barca haters all claimed he well deserved, but Messi won golden ball in 2014 , there's an outcry lol. Zidane won golden ball in 2006 WC, and media didnt complain about it. What's Zidane contribution there? 2 yellow cards in first two games, suspended for third game in which France needs to win by 2 goals to advence and they did so without Zidane. He scores 3 goals in later games but then received a disgraceful red in a final... and still a golden ball? sure, he's RM.
Messi's WC Golden Ball is one of the best performances in World Cup history, and most casuals don't know this, because of biased media. One funny relation with these Golden Balls. Ballon d'Or 1974 1. Cruyff, WC runner-up (Golden Ball) 7. G.Müller, WC Gold (scored winner), CL (top scorer), League (top scorer), Ballon d'Or 2014 1. Cronaldo, WC 18., CL (top scorer), Cup 2. Messi WC runner-up (Golden Ball) Now either Cruyff, or Cronaldo is overrated. So which one is it? ps. asking from the biased media.
Zidane's golden ball was awarded before the halftime which is totally bullshit. And he finished in top 3 ballon dor 2006 despite not playing being bad before worls cup and not play any game after world cup. Incredibly overrated.
^ Alba getting a little predictable with those cut-back crosses. On the second GIF above, it looks like the defender was already moving to cover his pass before the pass was made. Just shoot!
Some pundit on TalkSport last night said that the goal from Messi the other night was his 500th in his last 500 games !?! Is that correct !?!?
People used to RAVE over goal scorers who had records of scoring one in every two ...with virtually no assists