Messi: not just great, but the best?

[capriccioso 2,545]

You can't lay a claim to this throne if you'll be dispatched by half an hour of Kalou at right back...

[captainjt26 106]

Id say Messi is the best in the world right now but the best there ever will be ...i doubt it . People say that about footballers all the time is he the best of a tll time then 10 years later another player pops up ...you never know .

Though i will say Messi is the best player ive seen in my time .

Id like to see the current Barca side take on the old galacticos in there prime , it would be interesting to see who would come out on top !

[Spike 12,049]

IMHO in 2010 Wesley Sneider should have won the Ballon d'Or. He help lead Inter to the European Cup & Holland to a runner-up place in the World Cup. Of course the media said that he didn't do enough in the last half of 2010 The crazy thing was he didn't even get nominated for the final 3 that year. It was Messi, Xavi & Iniesta

I think Milito should have got it, Scored 30 goals in Inters treble winning year, including a double in the Champions League final

It should have been between Milito and Sneijder as they both had absolutely massive seasons. Milito didn't score the most goals but nearly every single one of them was very important, none of this 5 goals in one game crap.

[capriccioso 2,545]

All this talk of Greatest Team Ever™ fails to take into account that they've only been champions of Europe two times in 4 seasons. The original Galacticos were 3 for 6 in that aspect; and they are still miles behind Ajax and Bayern 70s with their 3 consecutive wins, not to mention Real Madrid's 5 in a row. I'd even have them behind the last team to successfully defend the European Cup, AC Milan of the late 80s.

The same goes for Messi. For all his dominance he still has a lower amount of Champions League medals than Clarence Seedorf, and less domestic League honours than Zlatan Ibrahimovich.

[Spike 12,049]

Not only what Cap said but their defence betrays the notion of 'Greatest Team Ever'. The last time I checked the best team ever shouldn't have [at best] an above average defence.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Also, the real Greatest Team Ever™ would surely not find it any trouble whatsoever to break down 10 men camped around their own area. Now in theory, there's many a team that can do that for 179 minutes and attack for the remaining one minute. The only reason they won the CL last year was because Real Madrid did not have that defensive discipline despite the best efforts of Mourinho; if Manchester United had played them in the semi's last season instead of Madrid we might have seen Sir Alex lift his 3rd CL title.

Liverpool under the earlier years of Benitez probably would have had no trouble doing this mob, either. Pep is heralded as a revolutionary but the truth is any side that is decently built defensively will lol his 3-3-4 nonsense back to the 1930s where it belongs, and indeed, 2 already have.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Not only what Cap said but their defence betrays the notion of 'Greatest Team Ever'. The last time I checked the best team ever shouldn't have [at best] an above average defence.

An excellent point. All it takes to cause that defence to cack it is a big man up front. Maybe even Heskey and Crouch could give them serious trouble. A duo of a Ramires-like (in terms of pace) striker and a muscular striker would probably put 3 goals past them every game. Not to mention Valdes seriously rivals Djimi Traore in my book as the worst player to win a CL.

[Fulham Broadway 16,857]

best player on the planet not many moons ago

http://estaticos.mar...ticia_1_g_0.jpg

Now he is the size of a small one

[capriccioso 2,545]

best player on the planet not many moons ago

http://estaticos.mar...ticia_1_g_0.jpg

Now he is the size of a small one

His eyes aren't the same size! What happened there?!

He also looks like he weighs about 120kg.

[DDA 9,690]

Looks pretty average here!

and here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CWJ3L6tT4I

[Jase 43,479]

Messi has scored 73 goals this season but couldn't even find the net against the Champions of Europe..

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

in a team sport i don't grade players as being the best ever etc....just grade them against players at or similar to the same position. e.g. Mickey Droy was better than Messi... Dimitri Kharine was better than Pele..etc..seems absurd but what i just said is pretty much fact.Droy was better than Messi at fouling tackling and Kharine was a better keeper than Pele.

with that point made Messi is the greatest "2nd Striker" of this generation. although i think there are certain factors that would downgrade his performances compared to other greats at his position from different generations. his performances at international level..he may be able to score a superb solo goal against Equador or Peru. but when has he shone against top international teams in a top tournament?

Maradona played with a vastly inferior Argentinian team to the one Messi has played in.yet Maradona practically single handedly won a World cup with that inferior team,against better defenders and in a time unlike Messi`s time,when attackers could still get kicked to lumps. Messi`s greatest international achievement was winning an Olympic medal at a sport not many nations have bothered entering.

Maradona made it at Barcelona as a teenager same as Messi..Maradona went to Napoli and led them to their first serie A title.at a time when the league was the best in the world. playing season after season in the world football capital of defense,week in week out he still shone. Spain may produce some great keepers but during Messi`s years in Spain how many great defenders has he really faced? i`ve yet to see him shred a top defender. Ashley ALWAYS makes him his lil bitch whenever they have faced each other and that is why he has never done anything to us.

anyway,rather than going into every player whose played his position ever..i don't personally rate him the best at his position for his own country let alone the best ever worldwide.

a great player. just slightly inflated stats due to circumstances he plays in. i guess the Sachin Tendulker of football ya could say. great,just not entirely as great as advertised.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Just realised that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, between them, have the princely sum of one goal in 23 appearances against Chelsea. That one goal was Ronaldo's header in Moscow.

Best of all time? . Let's put that myth to rest, and always remember it was forever debunked by half an hour of Salomon Kalou at right back.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Who cares about playing in the PL these days?

La liga is where all the action is shifting now.

A Bilbao team that is 7th place trashing the leaders United says it all!

That's only because of two factors:

a) Virtually no one cares about the Europa League except Spanish teams

b)Spanish teams only care about it because it's the only trophy they are likely to win for the next 1000 years or so.

[Spike 12,049]

I will be surprised if he doesn't score near 100 goals next year. I feel Messi is the best players I've seen live but he isn't the most exciting! Messi is boring and very predictable. He is no way near as exciting as Ronaldo (Phenom that is), Zidane, Ronaldinho, Cannavaro (lol), Henry, Drogba, Kaká, Shevchenko, et al. Those guys had the 'wild card' something that Messi simply doesn't have.

[capriccioso 2,545]

We're only 18, Spike. 10 years from now we'll see a better player.

I think zolayes should post a lot more in this thread. He would have been around to see Pele, Maradona, Eusebio et al and can offer a realistic comparison between them and the current crop, who in my view, are vastly inferior and benefit from 'defenders' like Jose Bosingwa.

[Spike 12,049]

Messi wouldn't do this, he would just dribble past everyone and one-on-one pass the ball into the net. I can say I would rather see a volly over a one-on-one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdy5fKdLvL8

[Spike 12,049]

Maybe we will. But it has been a long time since a player was punching in goals so easily.