Well, in a way I hope he is injured. If he's not injured, then he's lost more than half a step of pace. He looked to be well in the clear on that play just after LPB took a 1-nil lead, and then Marcelo took the ball right off him (who himself isn't as fast as he used to be).
I hear you but I don't think he's lost a step. He was fast against Eibar. I think it's a combination of defenses focusing ever more on him as well as not having rhythm. He would go for stretches of 10+ minutes without touching the ball or least barely having space to make any kind of play. One more piece of evidence for my theory is that even his passing in many recent games seems off. He didn't even come close to making an assist yesterday from what I can recall and that's unusual for Messi. Even when Messi doesn't score his playmaking is world class but we haven't seen that the last two matches.
I keep hearing how amazing Marcelo was for that play but ... 1 - It's no secret Messi has lost some speed. I mean ... duh ... 2 - Messi's touch is what really screwed that play ... it's right into Marcelo's path. Normally Messi is putting that touch on his left foot for a shot. What happened IMO is that he saw Varane coming from the left and that screwed him up. When he is running you can see him giving a quick glance to his left. Probably screwed up his touch.
I dunno. He might have made that touch on purpose to cut in front of Marcelo, thus taking him & Varane out of the play completely. Just didn't have the pace to pull it off. But yeah... judging a player's pace based on one play can lead to flawed conclusions.
Could be ... then he severely miscalculated that. Was the wrong move. Just find it strange he would pull it to his right leg instead of away to his left.
It went from "He's finished. He can't score goals anymore" to "Wow! Poker! He's GOAT. It's over." to "Dude is washed up. Hasn't scored in five Clasicos." all in a span of 9 days. Will people calm the ******** down? He's not in his peak form but he isn't washed up either. How about somewhere in the middle where he isn't playing at a GOAT level but is still the best footballer in the world. Just an idea.
When you're Messi, scoring for 5-6 consecutive games is a must, otherwise its considered as bad form. Messi led the scoring chart by 5 goals , led the assist chart by same margin, that's a career highlight for everyone else career, but average season for Messi.
Eight years ago today, Lionel Messi became the first player to score FIVE goals in a Champions League match ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️ ⚽️(via @ChampionsLeague) pic.twitter.com/Sr1yaitpL5— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 7, 2020
Lionel Messi has become the all-time top-scorer in the top five European leagues, 438 goals in 474 appearances.
So both (Lewandowski and Cronaldo) scoring streaks this seasons ended in 11 games, 16 goals. Longest League Scoring Streaks 21 games 33 goals Lionel Messi Spanish League 12-13 16 games 22 goals Teodor Peterek Polish League 37-38 (previous record) 15 games 22 goals Juan Pedro Young Uruguayn League 1933 15 games 21 goals Jaime Riveros Chilean League 2004 (previous modern record) 15 games 21 goals Tor Henning Hamre Estonian League 2003 13 games 18 goals Peter Dubocsky Czechoslovak League 91-92 13 games 22 goals Tom Philipson English League 26-27 (previous top league record) 12 games 23 goals Valeriano Lopez Colombian League 1949 12 games 17 goals Hamza Idriss Falatah Saudi Arabian League 98-00 11 games 23 goals Ara Hakobian Armenian League 2003 11 games 20 goals Fernando Morena Uruguayn League 1974 11 games 20 goals Jose Saturnino Cardozo Mexican League 2002 11 games 20 goals Cristiano Ronaldo Spanish League 14-15 11 games 16 goals Robert Lewandowski German League 19-20 11 games 16 goals Cristiano Ronaldo Italian League 19-20 11 games 13 goals Gabriel Batistuta Italian League 94-95 11 games 13 goals Jamie Vardy English League 15-16 11 games 11 goals Ole Stavrum Norwegian League 66-67 10 games 23 goals Marco Negri Scottish League 97-98 10 games 19 goals Mariano Martin Spanish League 42-44 10 games 19 goals Mario Jardel Portuguese League 99-00 10 games 18 goals Lionel Messi Spanish League 11-12 (previous modern top league record) ...
Hate to pick on you, but how many has this been asked ? Links have been posted with very detailed stats. And there is also wikipedia.
Too bad Pekerman benched him the whole game in 2006 QF. That team was the best Argentina team Messi ever played with.
Pekerman wen it counted made counter-productive decisions Taking out Riquelme vs Germany Being overly cautious vs England with Colombia
Yea, he also took out Crespo for Cruz (who rarely played in NT) while there's Saviola, Messi and Aimar who just sit there the whole game for nothing. Prior to 2006 WC, Argentina lost in friendlies to England and Croatia, they were ahead 2-1 and then Pekerman took out Roman early , Argentina then fell 2-3. He never learned. Cowardish act.
Messi apparently has a small knock on his quadriceps but should be back to full training in a few days. Really hope he's fit for this brutal stretch. Without him at his best, the La Liga dream is over. Suarez being back should add some extra firepower for Setien.