Round 5 Mbappe vs. England Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Recorded one big chance and one big miss when France won England with 2 goals to 1. From the best performance in round 4 to one of the worst in round 5. I think it fits between Cruyff and Ronaldo, neither being part of the 2 goals, but Cruyff didn't miss any big chances, and Ronaldo missed one more. World Cup Performance Index, considering statistics, the best (and worst) plays, importance and relation of quality of opposition and own team. 1. Maradona 86 vs England Rossi 82 vs Brazil 3. Forlan 10 vs Ghana 4. Charlton 66 vs Portugal Messi 22 vs Netherlands 6. Zidane 06 vs Brazil 7. Suker 98 vs Germany 8. Messi 14 vs Belgium Robben 14 vs Costa Rica Ronaldo 98 vs Denmark 11. Eusebio 66 vs England Jairzinho 70 vs Uruguay 13. G.Müller 70 vs Italy Schillaci 90 vs Ireland 15. Modric 18 vs Belgium 16. Pele 70 vs Uruguay Romario 94 vs Netherlands 18. Kempes 78 vs Brazil 19. Cruyff 74 vs East Germany 20. Mbappe 22 vs England 21. Ronaldo 02 vs England
Round 6 Mbappe vs. Morocco Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler Part of both goals by rebounding blocked shots, the second one having quality in it. Other than that also had 5 big misses. Important part of the win, but considering he had 5 big misses, it's not that good of a performance. I'm putting it low as Robben and Zidane, as it's not as good as Messi WC14 who created 3 big chances not missing any. World Cup Performance Index, considering statistics, the best (and worst) plays, importance and relation of quality of opposition and own team. 1. Maradona 86 vs Belgium 2. Messi 22 vs Croatia 3. Ronaldo 02 vs Turkey 4. Rossi 82 vs Poland Schillaci 90 vs Argentina 6. Cruyff 74 vs Brazil Kempes 78 vs Peru 8. Suker 98 vs France 9. Jairzinho 70 vs Italy Pele 70 vs Italy 11. G.Müller 70 vs Uruguay Romario 94 vs Sweden 13. Forlan 10 vs Netherlands Messi 14 vs Netherlands Ronaldo 98 vs Netherlands 16. Mbappe 22 vs Morocco Robben 14 vs Argentina Zidane 06 vs Portugal 19. Eusebio 66 vs Soviet Union 20. Modric 18 vs England 21. Charlton 66 vs West Germany
As I watched the game again, found two additional big chances that Messi created. Round 7 Mbappe vs. Argentina Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler It was probably the greatest World Cup final, that also had two of the best ever individual final performances. Like Messi he was part of all 3 goals that France scored, and also scored the most important penalty in SO. Although Mbappe had two penalties, he was actually part of both build-ups to them, and overall had more quality in the goals. Other than that it was quiet performance, and considering Messi had much more involvement, and quality beyond goals, 4 big chances created to one miss, defended more etc., Messi's performance was just better overall. Considering the two additional chances I'm putting Messi now alone as the best performance in final round, and Mbappe with Kempes who scored 2/2 and created one additional chance. World Cup Performance Index, considering statistics, the best (and worst) plays, importance and relation of quality of opposition and own team. 1. Messi 22 vs France 2. Kempes 78 vs Netherlands Mbappe 22 vs Argentina 4. Cruyff 74 vs West Germany Robben 14 vs Brazil Schillaci 90 vs England Suker 98 vs Netherlands 8. Forlan 10 vs Germany Ronaldo 02 vs Germany 10. Modric 18 vs France 11. Rossi 82 vs West Germany 12. Maradona 86 vs West Germany 13. Messi 14 vs Germany 14. Ronaldo 98 vs France 15. Romario 94 vs Italy 16. Zidane 06 vs Italy
^ Great analysis! Mbappe did have a very good WC although I think his relative struggles in the QF and SF especially against England puts his performances just below the very best. Then again if France the Final... Mbappe probably would be BDO favorite and not Messi.
Yeah it's insane from how small details so big things hang, and in the final there were many like that. Like the Kolo Muani and Lautaro chance's right at the end like 10 seconds apart. Luckily the luck was finally on Messi's side.
Funny If you ever feel sad then just remember some people call this guy the GOAT 💀🤣pic.twitter.com/WzDa040yR2— Troll Football (parody) (@Troll_Futballl) February 1, 2023
Mbappe WC22 is an all-time great performance. From attacking perspective he was very important part of the team, part of 13/16 goals and also scored in a SO. Comparison to Messi 22 is easy to make, and it's simply not as good. Importance, and scoring efficiency are pretty close, but Messi was a better playmaker, actually also defended, and was better in four rounds to two including the heads-up in the final. Mbappe is probably the first player I've watched, that didn't participate in defending at all. Had zero attempted tackles, blocks and interceptions the whole tournament. The same comparison applies to Jairzinho 70, and I'm going to give edge for Cruyff 74 and Robben 14 too. Putting it together with Forlan 10 now, as Forlan was more efficient scorer, but also didn't advance the game as much through dribbling. World Cup performance index, considering statistics, the best (and worst) plays, importance and relation of quality of opposition and own team. Color highlighted as golden, silver, bronze ball, or not in Top 3. 1. Maradona 86 Messi 14 3. Kempes 78 Messi 22 5. Jairzinho 70 6. Cruyff 74 Robben 14 8. Forlan 10 Mbappe 22 10. Romario 94 11. Eusebio 66 Pele 70 Rossi 82 14. G.Müller 70 Schillaci 90 Suker 98 17. Charlton 66 Modric 18 Ronaldo 02 20. Ronaldo 98 21. Zidane 06
[emoji599] Most Club Goals for Top-5 League Clubs: [emoji1033] Messi: 697 [emoji91] [emoji1201] CR7: 696 Lionel Messi has SURPASSED Cristiano Ronaldo despite playing 85 fewer matches [emoji2962]
[emoji2788] Van Dijk to Frenkie after [emoji1179] vs [emoji1033]: “Messi is not normal… there's a secret inside him. How did he pass from there? All the ways were closed, even the vision…” [emoji2788] Frenkie to Van Dijk: “We faced the best in history of football. We will never see someone like him in our life.”
[emoji2424]| Sergio Ramos: “There was suffering for several years playing against Leo Messi. I am now enjoying him. He is the best player football has ever produced.”
https://dubz.co/c/zaz3d3 Great curling strike from outside the box to win the game for PSG without Mbappe or Neymar (or Ramos, Kimpembe, Verratti):
As it should be. Messi has been the best in every competition, and in whole different level overall to anyone else.
UCL performances is a big "if" considering they play Bayern. Of course, if PSG lose that would also rule out Mbappe & Neymar from winning the Ballon d'Or. In that case, the biggest threat probably comes from Haaland but nothing short of City/Haaland winning the EPL-CL double would garner serious discussion, imo.
My post didn't really suggest otherwise but would just urge not to count your chickens. The voting results over the past decade or so suggest people are tired of voting for Messi and looking for reasons to vote for someone else. A good example of this is the 2013-2015 period. - 2014: CR7 wins the CL scoring 17 CL goals and 30+ league goals. Wins the Ballon d'Or in a landslide (36% to 16%). -2015: Messi matches CR7's 2014 season by winning CL, scoring 10 CL goals and 40+ leagues goals. BUT he also leads Barca to La Liga title and the treble. Yet that vote was notably closer than 2014 (41% to 28%). To this day, still difficult to reconcile those 2014 and 2015 votes when looked at together even before turning one's head to int'l competition. Factor in WC 2014 events and it's even more telling. But if you recall the 2013 BD vote (the ultimate heist), the landslide 2014 vote and close 2015 vote becomes less surprising.
Barca (and/or the Catalan media) love to throw a lot of fake transfer speculations every year. So gonna take this with a grain of salt. But it has been reported that Messi's father is negotiating with Laporta for a return. The noise seems a bit more concrete. Messi's renewal at PSG doesn't seems to be stuck and with PSG trying to unload Neymar, I'd doubt Messi stays. I still find it unlikely. With rare exceptions I really don't like players returning. I hate the way Messi left, but I would be against a return for a few reasons. One of which is that a big reason for the turnaround this season is that we've become a fairly good pressing team again. Every player works off the ball to regain possession and Messi wouldn't be expected to do so.
I read that we have to shave off a further €200 million off the annual wage bill so I don’t see how we can bring back the highest paid player in history ??