Messi is having an insane World Cup, even though the refs clearly favored Argentina against Egypt and Switzerland. My US source says the US isn't helping them at all. I don't buy that they'd help Argentina just to pump up MLS. If you look at ESPN and other US sites, they're barely talking about Messi anyway. So I believe the info. It feels way more like a FIFA thing giving them a little push. That Egypt game was a joke, 5 yellows for Egypt and 0 for Argentina, plus 8 penalties over two World Cups is wild. But even with that, Messi's tournament is unbelievable. Not just for his age, but his G+A and how he runs their whole attack. This is literally his best tournament ever for Argentina, better than 2014 and even 2022. For now at least. We still have the semis and the final, but right now his Sofascore rating is higher than Maradona in 86. I think the Sofascore algorithm inflates modern players' ratings. I saw Pelé score 1 goal and give 2 assists in the '70 final and get the same rating Pedri got in a 0-0 against Cape Verde, but it's still an indicator.
Alvaro Morata & Rodri banned for 'Gibraltar is Spanish' chant during Euro 2024 celebrations - BBC Sport —————————- FIFA will NOT take action against Argentina after stars chanted Falklands song during dressing room celebrations following win over Egypt https://t.co/pHNahTjjB9— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) July 9, 2026
the true definition of a "one man army", even at 39.. MESSI THE GOAT! that loser tap-in merchant from Portugal, penaldinho, the generational NT flop with "15 touch per game: crying "but but Vitinha, Neves, Bruno Fernandez are not creating tap-in chances for me" "with his braindead fans harassing Portuguese players, girlfriends" never, lmaaaooo.. SPAIN Most goals - Oyarzabal Most assists - Cucurella Successful dribbles - Yamal Most chances created - Baena Most big chances created - Cucurella FRANCE Most goals - Mbappe Most assists - Olise Successful dribbles - Barcola Most big chances created - Olise Most chances created - Mbappe ENGLAND Most goals - Kane / Bellingham Most assists - Gordon Successful dribbles - Eze Most chances created - Bellingham Most big chances created - Declan Rice ARGENTINA Most goals - Messi Most assists - Messi Successful dribbles - Messi Most chances created - Messi Most big chances created - Messi 2076563177517850638 is not a valid tweet id
Gabiru is back to his usual shenanigans and once again hiding behind his mysterious anonymous sources. Please only lie when I’m not online
96th minute, a referee looks at VAR footage, calls a penalty for Argentina. Messi will take it... he shoots... 3-2. Argentina advances to the final against France.
Messi’s physical evolution raises serious questions because it appears to contradict almost every established principle of elite athletic ageing. Most footballers, even the greatest, experience a clear decline after their early 30s with reduced sprint speed, diminished explosiveness, slower recovery and a gradual loss of physical output. Yet Messi now in his late 30s has reportedly gone in the complete opposite direction, improving his recorded top speed from 29.38 km/h at the Qatar World Cup to 30.9 km/h at this tournament. I have learnt something new about MessiIsmael Galancho, a nutritionist close to Messi, has said that the captain’s physical evolution defies virtually every established principle of elite performance. A footballer’s top speed typically declines steadily after the age of 30,…— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) July 11, 2026 That is not simply maintaining a high level it is an apparent reversal of the normal ageing curve. And when an athlete shows physical characteristics that are normally associated with younger players, while performance enhancing methods are specifically designed to preserve muscle, power, recovery and athletic longevity, it is understandable why some would question whether there is more behind it than exceptional genetics and preparation alone. Doping test should help answer these questions— Ramadhir Singh (@oldtraffordroar) July 12, 2026 As it stands, there is literally no publicly available evidence that Messi himself underwent anti doping testing during the 2022 or 2026 World Cups. I have looked for it and cannot find a single record. Interestingly, there is a documented record of Messi being tested around the 2014 World Cup final, and that is publicly available. Messi couldn't celebrate making the World Cup final in the locker room because he was called into anti-doping control pic.twitter.com/FjZTCHqXOm— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 10, 2014 Even mainstream analysis acknowledges that Messi’s physical profile at 39 is highly unusual. Even at 39, Lionel Messi can still hurt England with his sprinting ability | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian The explanation offered is that he conserves energy and has adapted his game to maximise his decisive moments. But an explanation being available does not mean it must automatically be accepted as the definitive one, especially when the physical profile being explained is itself so far outside the normal trajectory of elite athletes. Finally it is worth remembering that the institutions surrounding Messi are not detached from Argentine football’s power structures. Donato Villani a long time figure in Argentina’s medical setup and a senior FIFA medical official has spoken openly about his close involvement with Messi’s career and his relationship with figures such as Julio Grondona, who was one of the most powerful figures in world football for decades. "Diego le pedía que no se metiera en nada": la confesión de un histórico de la Selección Argentina sobre la relación entre Maradona y Messi - TyC Sports So he will remain protected until the day he believes he has become bigger than the programme itself as his predecessor ultimately did. BLATTER’S TRUTH: Havelange wanted to hush up Maradona’s World Cup dope test | KeirRadnedge.com ARGENTINA SEEKS NEW DIRECTION, MARADONA SOLACE IN NEW ENGLAND - The Washington Post The difference is that Messi is far more calculated, disciplined,less volatile and less uncouth than his predecessor ever was.
Guillem Balagué only goes as far back as the 2022 World Cup when discussing Messi’s physical data. I have learnt something new about MessiIsmael Galancho, a nutritionist close to Messi, has said that the captain’s physical evolution defies virtually every established principle of elite performance. A footballer’s top speed typically declines steadily after the age of 30,…— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) July 11, 2026 Yet Messi’s recorded top speed at the 2014 World Cup aged 27 was lower than his recorded top speed at the 2026 World Cup aged 39. Messi makes the difference when it matters - ESPN A player becoming faster 12 years later at an age when most elite athletes experience heavy physical decline is an extraordinary outlier. Benjamin Button or Lionel Armstrong ?
Absolute nonsense again. 1. It depends on the technology used to measure top speeds, how accurate and certain the measurement is. 2. It is not a sprint contest where the goal is to reach your absolute top speed without the ball. It is a RECORDED top speed. The context of a match and an intendend gameplan matters. Whether it is a slow, possession-based, tactical battle or a match with huge openings in counter-attacking sequences early on in the match. 3. 30,9 km/h is not some insanely impressive mark even for a 39 year old. The highgest recorded top speed by any player this WC per Sofascore is Tagliafico at 36,2 km/h (he is 33 year old). Ronaldo's top speed this WC is 33,7 km/h at the age of 41. Salah at 34 has recoreded 35,5 km/h. 4. Messi was clearly not at the top of his fitness at WC 2014. 5. You are looking at 7(8) game tournament sample every 4 years to measure a trend of Messi's absolute top speed capacity ACROSS DIFFERENT MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS. ... You are a joke carlito. It is embarrassing. I hope you are actually just a troll and not that naive to believe your own words. It is nonsense after nonsense. Conspiracy after conspiracy. All completely devoided from reality.
Football is a game of timing and space. Messi's superiority comes from being much better than others at utilizing these two elements, combined with his technical mastery. There is nothing suspicious about his physical capabilities. He is an extreme professional who has managed his body extremely well over the years, dedicating his entire career to this craft. He is also exceptionally intelligent at managing his energy over the course of a match and tournaments. 30,9 km/h at the age of 39. What is so suspicious about it? For context, Bolt recorded 44,7 km/h top speed when he broke the 100 meters record in 2009.
Modrić's highest recorded top speed in WC 2026 is 32,1 km/h. 40 year old midfielder who has never been known for his speed.
Top speed numbers are going to be heavily dependent on whether someone happens to have had the conditions to reach their top speed in those games. You really do need specific conditions, especially as an attacker. Reaching your top speed requires a lot of runway, so it basically needs to happen on the counter in space, especially for an attacker (who will often quickly become offside if they run much at once). Reaching your top speed also requires that you not be particularly tired in that moment, which will typically mean it’s not going to happen near the end of a match or in extra time, nor is it likely to happen if you’ve just done a serious sprint or gotten a knock not long prior. Reaching your top speed also is unlikely to occur with the ball at your feet—even an all-time-great dribbler like Messi is going to be a bit faster without the ball. So yeah, reaching your actual top speed for an attacker is usually going to require countering in lots of space, without the ball, at a point in the game where you’re fresh. It’s a very specific situation that doesn’t often come up. Fluctuations in what a player’s recorded top speed was in small samples of matches is going to reflect how close to that ideal scenario a player happened to get in the course of each set of games. Granted, over a large sample of matches, we’d expect those ideal scenarios to occur at some point, and we’d also expect an older player to have a slower top speed. So I think we’d probably actually have reason for suspicion if Messi’s highest top speed recorded in this WC was higher than the highest top speed recorded for him over tons of matches earlier in his career. But that’s not the case. While speed recordings don’t really go back consistently, my understanding from looking into it is that Messi has been recorded at noticeably faster speeds than he achieved at this WC (https://www.messivsronaldo.app/articles/who-is-the-quickest/). Which is to say that Messi is not actually faster than he used to be, though in small samples of games he may have had a better occasion to reach a high speed at this WC than he happened to have in the 2022 WC or 2014 WC or whatever. I really don’t think this is evidence of anything nefarious at all. (Though I will note that I have a general skepticism of athletes these days such that if we found out any particular athlete was doping I wouldn’t be shocked).
Ismael Galancho, a coach specializing in sports nutrition, recently released some information about the legendary player's physical data. Galancho pointed out, using statistics from a professional sports data company: "According to Traclab data, Messi's top speed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup was 29.38 km/h. As of now, in this FIFA World Cup, Messi's top speed has reached 30.9 km/h (according to Sofascore data), meaning his top speed has increased by over 5%." He further explained: "Between 2009 and 2015, Messi's top speed was approximately between 32.5 and 33.5 km/h. In some individual tests, he even approached 34 km/h. But usually, a player's top speed will significantly decrease after the age of 30. Generally, between 30 and 35, players lose 1% to 2% of their speed per year; after 35, this decline typically reaches 1.5% to 3% per year." Galancho concluded: "Messi's physical condition in this FIFA World Cup is actually better than it was in the last FIFA World Cup, despite four years having passed.What did we do to reverse his physical decline? That I cannot reveal. But seeing the final results, seeing the training, effort, and persistence Messi has put in over the years, I am very happy." Messi's Nutritionist: Messi's fitness at this World Cup is better than last | AllFootball If Galancho “can’t reveal it” and nobody on earth can point to a specific anti doping test conducted on Lionel Messi during the 2022 or 2026 World Cups, complete with pictures and details, then Carlito86 is free to speculate and formulate his own theories. Just for the record, this is Messi’s nutritionist speaking. What are your credentials Mr Beast without the subscribers besides typing 10,000 word essays that nobody reads? I completely understand that your childhood memories are at stake, and that if what I’m saying were true it would affect the legacy of a player you hold so dearly. But while I understand that, you also need to understand that I genuinely don’t give a fu*k. This is the first and last time I’ll explain myself, just so you’re aware for future reference. No matter how many buckets of tears you shed or whatever names you choose to call me, I will only stop when the ammunition runs out. Good day now.
A few other related things I’d add to what I said above (which I think does generally cover this on its own): 1. This post reveals that you’re talking about comparing top speed data from two different sources (i.e. “Traclab” and SofaScore/OPTA). I’m not super familiar with Traclab, but I’m sure the measurement system and hardware used by the two is different, which likely makes them not really comparable enough to even try to make the kind of inference you’re trying to make. 2. I wonder what you think of the fact that FIFA data had Cristiano Ronaldo reaching a top speed of 33.98 km/h in the 2018 WC and he reached 33.7 km/h according to Sofascore data in the 2026 WC. Is it suspicious to you that Ronaldo’s top speed has stayed essentially the same from age 33 to age 41? That certainly isn’t consistent with the yearly-decrease numbers you talk about here. 3. Relatedly, I also wonder what you think of the fact that that 33.98 km/h number in 2018 was apparently the highest recorded at the 2018 WC (https://www.skysports.com/football/...p-stars-have-hit-the-fastest-speeds-in-russia). Meanwhile, Sofascore has tons of players way above that speed in this World Cup—with the highest numbers being about 36 km/h, and even #50 being 35.4 km/h. Does this make you wonder at all whether maybe the use of different measurement systems has resulted in the speed measurements recorded at this World Cup just being systematically a bit higher than in the past? If not, then it probably should make you wonder about that, and then by extension to wonder how valid the inference you’re trying to draw about Messi is. 4. Do you wonder whether maybe this nutritionist is just trying to market himself as having made a big difference to a big athlete? If comparing apples and oranges makes him look good, it’s in his interest to do it. And also, to the extent that this guy did have a positive impact, do you wonder whether a nutritionist has ways to help an athlete improve performance that isn’t doping? The entire job of a sports nutritionist is to have athletes do things that will help improve their performance and that aren’t doping!
There is a common and honestly disturbing theme of illiteracy here. People read a post about Messi’s top speed at the 2026 World Cup being higher than it was at the 2014 World Cup and completely miss the actual point. The argument is not simply that “he is fast at 39” it is that his physical condition is better than it was before, and that is highly unusual by the normal standards of elite athletic ageing. Most importantly, this is not an assessment coming from some random person on the internet. This is coming from Messi’s own nutritionist, someone directly involved in his preparation, who has acknowledged that his physical condition has improved and that they have reversed the expected decline. Yet somehow people are still pretending the argument is just “Messi is quick for his age” instead of engaging with what is actually being said. Fu*k this shit anyway. I’m not here to cure illiteracy. There are ESOL courses available for that.
No, your argument is that Messi is using illegal performance-enhancing drugs because his nutritionist self-promoted in a single interview. Then, using nonsensical data and evidence to infer a conspiracy theory out of the two pieces of information.
As I already said above, a nutritionist is obviously going to want to market himself. If the recorded top speed numbers have systematically increased because of a change in measurement systems (which honestly pretty clearly is the case, given that, as I demonstrated, the top speed recorded at the 2018 WC is nowhere near the top speed recorded by huge numbers of players at this WC), it’s still in his interest to compare apples and oranges to toot his own horn. It’s important to take a critical eye at what any salesperson says about their product. He’s a salesperson marketing his services. His services probably do help (and his services likely are not doping). But a salesperson using top speed numbers that clearly are systematically higher than in the past as evidence of the effect of their services is something you should be very skeptical of. All that said, obviously Messi is in good physical condition at this World Cup! He’s been completely dominant so far in the World Cup, and you don’t do that if you’re not in good physical condition! If you think a 39-year-old Messi being in good physical condition is good evidence of doping, then you don’t really need top-speed measurements to come to that conclusion. You can just look at how well he’s playing and decide you’re skeptical of it. I don’t think most people will be on board with that, but you’re free to have that view.
I think people are severely overestimating how fast top-tier athletes decline. This isn't a video game where you become a vegetable at the age of 31. Preserving 90% of your top speed is very commonplace, especially nowadays. On the flip side, it's important not to underestimate how much impact being 10% slower than someone else can have on the pitch. And someone running 32 km/h to chase someone running 35 km/h can look pretty silly, even if the difference is just 10%.
Please don't misunderstand Carlito..he's putting in an appreciable amount of effort to actually prove Cristiano Ronaldo was 'i am back, I am back(with anabolic steroid)'.
For the record, I am not saying that Messi, Modrić, or any other footballers are definitively not using performance-enhancing drugs or exploiting some grey areas in rules. I obviously can't be certain about any of that. I am saying that carlito's accusations are baseless and done in bad faith. For example, if Messi's longevity and physical performance are so good that it raises a suspicion about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the same applies to Cristiano Ronaldo and a few other footballers and athletes in general. At the end of the day, Messi's physical performances at the WC are not even that impressive to raise any suspicion. As it has been true for the last many years, Messi is a player who generally exerts the least amount of physical effort in matches. There is nothing about it that is unusual or never-seen before. The better question is: What do you really know about doping and how it works?