Lionel Messi

[McFaul 35]

 

Some daftee on 5 live saying he was gifted space cos real had 10 men. As if real had been bombing forward and leaving gaps. He just tore them up. Ronaldo....didn't.

 

he is just an absolutely magnificent footballer.

 

That 2nd goal tonight eclipsed the Maradona goal against England, on that occasion a couple of our players could have kicked him and stopped him, but nobody got near him when he scored that goal tonight. Breathtaking stuff.

You must be having a laugh All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was, and it wouldn't have happened 11 v 11, plus shite defending. You think he'd run past Man Utd defenders like that? I've seen better goals in the football league last weekend than that goal. Decent enough goal but it wasn't even on the map with Beardsley's against Villa, never mind Maradona's.

 

When he wins a World Cup on his own he'll be able to be spoken about in the same breath as Maradona, just now he's mainly a player younger fans will class as the greatest ever, when all he is the latest thing, same as Rivaldo was. Doesn't matter what Messi does he will never be as good as Ronaldo, or Maradona in my opinion.

 

howay Stevie............George Best was a magnificent player, but never even played in the World Cup. Messi might never win the world Cup but that doesn't mean he can't be the equal of Maradona given time, as Maradona is possibly the greatest player I've seen although how you or I or anybody else can say with conviction he is better than Johan Cryuff who also didn't win the World Cup is only opinion. These players are the greatest players of their time, just like Messi is now in the current game.

 

Edit

 

and in my opinion, Zidane [for instance] was never as good as Cryuff, Maradona, Best and is certainly now bettered by Messi - but this is just opinion.

Messi is a decent dribbler, his goal tonight though watch it again I don't want to sound like Alan Hansen, but it's fucking shocking defending, all this bollocks about, there's nothing they can do, not one tackle, see if Makelele was in there he'd have been cleaned out straight away and as if he'd run past Vidic and Ferdinand like that. It's a canny goal, but fucking I'm embarrassed for the Real defence so poor is this goal. See impressionable people today, they see an arsehole like Andy Townsend say "that goww is aaandefendabuww" and they take it as given that he's not talking shite because they can't form opinions themselves. It's an alright goal but lets get some perspective here.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

[Brock Manson 0]

1 in 10 share my view, in fact can't remember anyone on here agreeing with me, but I'm right anyway, and SAF agrees...

 

There's a reason why 1 in 10 share your view. You're wrong.

Ronaldo was absolutely shite tonight, he's still the better player in my opinion however, and who am I to disagree with SAF. Messi is the younger persons icon, I mean fuckin hell a kid like yourself, you weren't even born when Maradona was nearly retired.

 

I can't compare Messi to Maradonna simply because I've only seen highlights of the latter's play.

 

However, it's perfectly reasonable for me to state that Messi is by far the better player than Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a show pony; capable of sublime skills and goals, but he only ever plays for himself. If things don't go his way like what happened tonight, then that's that as far as he's concerned.

 

Messi started off slowly but when Barca called for him he came up big and gave them two vital goals. He's perfected the art of threading a pass through to just beat the offside trap; so rarely does it not come off in a scoring chance. The only advantage Ronaldo has over Messi is that he can head the ball wonderfully, whereas Messi can't (which is hardly surprising given that Messi's game doesn't rely on it at all and he's a midget).

 

Has SAF ever managed Messi btw?

[McFaul 35]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

[Guest alex]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

You've got a point like. The 1st one was a 'brilliant finish'. Howay man. It's not like this only happens with Messi though.

[McFaul 35]

1 in 10 share my view, in fact can't remember anyone on here agreeing with me, but I'm right anyway, and SAF agrees...

 

There's a reason why 1 in 10 share your view. You're wrong.

Ronaldo was absolutely shite tonight, he's still the better player in my opinion however, and who am I to disagree with SAF. Messi is the younger persons icon, I mean fuckin hell a kid like yourself, you weren't even born when Maradona was nearly retired.

 

I can't compare Messi to Maradonna simply because I've only seen highlights of the latter's play.

 

However, it's perfectly reasonable for me to state that Messi is by far the better player than Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a show pony; capable of sublime skills and goals, but he only ever plays for himself. If things don't go his way like what happened tonight, then that's that as far as he's concerned.

 

Messi started off slowly but when Barca called for him he came up big and gave them two vital goals. He's perfected the art of threading a pass through to just beat the offside trap; so rarely does it not come off in a scoring chance. The only advantage Ronaldo has over Messi is that he can head the ball wonderfully, whereas Messi can't (which is hardly surprising given that Messi's game doesn't rely on it at all and he's a midget).

 

Has SAF ever managed Messi btw?

No it's not, there's very little in it, I think Ronaldo is stronger, much better in the air, but as Ferguson said last night there's not a great deal in it, but on this occasion I'll bow to the superior knowledge of a Berkshire teenager. Ronaldo was shite last night by the way, as Messi has been plenty times. There's a stat that show Messi has scored one goal in about 12 games against Man Utd, Chelsea or Liverpool, says a lot imo.

[Guest alex]

Actually, what Barca lack is a centre-forward like Cristiano.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

MESSI FOR POPE !

[Happy Face 29]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

 

He didn't score it in the champions league semi final though did he, so of course Twitter didn't light up in a comparable way.

 

itv commentators are knackers who will over egg him and Ronald, even during their shite first halves, doesn't mean he wasn't class in the end. Most on here can see the difference and don't fall for townsend's hyperbole.

[Tooj 17]

1 in 10 share my view, in fact can't remember anyone on here agreeing with me, but I'm right anyway, and SAF agrees...

 

There's a reason why 1 in 10 share your view. You're wrong.

Ronaldo was absolutely shite tonight, he's still the better player in my opinion however, and who am I to disagree with SAF. Messi is the younger persons icon, I mean fuckin hell a kid like yourself, you weren't even born when Maradona was nearly retired.

 

I can't compare Messi to Maradonna simply because I've only seen highlights of the latter's play.

 

However, it's perfectly reasonable for me to state that Messi is by far the better player than Ronaldo. Ronaldo is a show pony; capable of sublime skills and goals, but he only ever plays for himself. If things don't go his way like what happened tonight, then that's that as far as he's concerned.

 

Messi started off slowly but when Barca called for him he came up big and gave them two vital goals. He's perfected the art of threading a pass through to just beat the offside trap; so rarely does it not come off in a scoring chance. The only advantage Ronaldo has over Messi is that he can head the ball wonderfully, whereas Messi can't (which is hardly surprising given that Messi's game doesn't rely on it at all and he's a midget).

 

Has SAF ever managed Messi btw?

No it's not, there's very little in it, I think Ronaldo is stronger, much better in the air, but as Ferguson said last night there's not a great deal in it, but on this occasion I'll bow to the superior knowledge of a Berkshire teenager. Ronaldo was shite last night by the way, as Messi has been plenty times. There's a stat that show Messi has scored one goal in about 12 games against Man Utd, Chelsea or Liverpool, says a lot imo.

Ronaldo's got better physical attributes that Messi, so I can see why people use that as a reason as to why he's better than Messi.

 

However, as pure footballers, Messi is better.

[Tooj 17]

Actually, what Barca lack is a centre-forward like Cristiano.

Aye, Villa's been really poor the second half of this season. Ronaldo cutting in from the left in that formation would be deadly.

[Tooj 17]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

The difference being that Connor Whickham's wasn't away in the Champions League semi-final, against your biggest rivals, in what is the biggest fixture in the club calendar.

[McFaul 35]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

The difference being that Connor Whickham's wasn't away in the Champions League semi-final, against your biggest rivals, in what is the biggest fixture in the club calendar.

That's fair enough, but from a defensive point of view it might as well have been J69's Chester Le Street & Sunderland League Division 8, and even then if I was the manager I'd have bollocked them. Fuckin "Lass", he was a like a lass in that instant, he could've stopped it straight away, and the defending got worse as his run continued. As for Ronaldo and Messi, it's not something you can definitively prove who is better, plenty say Messi, noblemen of the game like SAF say Ronaldo and I agree. The defenders in La Liga are pish, if he scored 31 in 34 games like Ronaldo did in the Premiership I'd take my hat off to him but the 1 in 12 record against CFC, MUFC and LFC says a lot in my opinion, and he pulled up nee trees in the World Cup neither.

[Happy Face 29]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

The difference being that Connor Whickham's wasn't away in the Champions League semi-final, against your biggest rivals, in what is the biggest fixture in the club calendar.

That's fair enough, but from a defensive point of view it might as well have been J69's Chester Le Street & Sunderland League Division 8, and even then if I was the manager I'd have bollocked them. Fuckin "Lass", he was a like a lass in that instant, he could've stopped it straight away, and the defending got worse as his run continued. As for Ronaldo and Messi, it's not something you can definitively prove who is better, plenty say Messi, noblemen of the game like SAF say Ronaldo and I agree. The defenders in La Liga are pish, if he scored 31 in 34 games like Ronaldo did in the Premiership I'd take my hat off to him but the 1 in 12 record against CFC, MUFC and LFC says a lot in my opinion, and he pulled up nee trees in the World Cup neither.

 

Ronaldo hardly set the world on fire there though either.

[McFaul 35]

"All he does is change direction twice running on to a nicely laid of pass, he just had more momentum than the defenders that was all it was"

 

 

Y wanna stick t the Carling / have ya tv looked at ?

 

That incident with collapseable furniture's clearly rattled ya retinas .

Look at it above. I hope there was plenty Kleenex around last night for you. As I wrote before the game on Twitter, he just needs to scratch his arse and the commentators are all "oh look at that from Messi", it's a good goal, watch it again, it's a contender for goal of the week, but only an idiot could say that's even in the same league as Maradona's goal against England. Absolutely woeful defending for that goal last night, but Messi exploited it, fair play, decent goal, and that's the end. Connor Wickham scored a goal 10 times better than that, three weeks ago, and very little is said, so get yourself cleaned up and take it for what it was.

The difference being that Connor Whickham's wasn't away in the Champions League semi-final, against your biggest rivals, in what is the biggest fixture in the club calendar.

That's fair enough, but from a defensive point of view it might as well have been J69's Chester Le Street & Sunderland League Division 8, and even then if I was the manager I'd have bollocked them. Fuckin "Lass", he was a like a lass in that instant, he could've stopped it straight away, and the defending got worse as his run continued. As for Ronaldo and Messi, it's not something you can definitively prove who is better, plenty say Messi, noblemen of the game like SAF say Ronaldo and I agree. The defenders in La Liga are pish, if he scored 31 in 34 games like Ronaldo did in the Premiership I'd take my hat off to him but the 1 in 12 record against CFC, MUFC and LFC says a lot in my opinion, and he pulled up nee trees in the World Cup neither.

 

Ronaldo hardly set the world on fire there though either.

Playing up front on his own largely left to chase long balls, I'm hardly surprised.

[Craig 6682]

Dunno if it's already been mentioned but one of the lads at work was telling me that Ronaldo was interviewed by Spanish media and he made some claim about 'god telling him his purpose on the planet was to play football' and when they then asked Messi what he thought about Ronaldo's comments he replied with "I said no such thing..."

 

Awesome goal from Messi last night - sheer brilliance. Both fantastic footballers but Messi is better for me.

[toonotl 2980]

I wouldn't say the defenders in La Liga are all that bad. Not as physical as the PL but they are definitely not sub-standard.

 

La Liga seems to get slammed a lot lately for being a two team league (which is true) as though the other teams are fucking Hearts and Motherwell or something. La Liga has some very good sides with some very good players apart from Barca and Real Madrid.

 

Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Mad., etc etc.. Good sides which challenge for silverware in the Europa cup every year. And before someone starts with the ''The Europa league is a joke" line, I think it is a fairly good indicator of the depth of a league in terms of the comparable strength of the mid-table teams.

[ChezGiven 0]

I watched it on RTE and although it was in the pub, i caught one commentator comparing the spanish league to the scottish league. Watching the whole coverage on there does nothing to dispell the myth that Irish are all mad alcoholics. The post match stuff is just 4 OAPs muttering to themselves.

[McFaul 35]

I wouldn't say the defenders in La Liga are all that bad. Not as physical as the PL but they are definitely not sub-standard.

 

La Liga seems to get slammed a lot lately for being a two team league (which is true) as though the other teams are fucking Hearts and Motherwell or something. La Liga has some very good sides with some very good players apart from Barca and Real Madrid.

 

Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Mad., etc etc.. Good sides which challenge for silverware in the Europa cup every year. And before someone starts with the ''The Europa league is a joke" line, I think it is a fairly good indicator of the depth of a league in terms of the comparable strength of the mid-table teams.

When you consider bottom half sides like Boro and Fulham made the final I'd agree.

[Happy Face 29]

I wouldn't say the defenders in La Liga are all that bad. Not as physical as the PL but they are definitely not sub-standard.

 

La Liga seems to get slammed a lot lately for being a two team league (which is true) as though the other teams are fucking Hearts and Motherwell or something. La Liga has some very good sides with some very good players apart from Barca and Real Madrid.

 

Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Mad., etc etc.. Good sides which challenge for silverware in the Europa cup every year. And before someone starts with the ''The Europa league is a joke" line, I think it is a fairly good indicator of the depth of a league in terms of the comparable strength of the mid-table teams.

When you consider bottom half sides like Boro and Fulham made the final I'd agree.

 

...and both got beat in finals off superior Spanish also-rans

[ChezGiven 0]

I watched it on RTE and although it was in the pub, i caught one commentator comparing the spanish league to the scottish league. Watching the whole coverage on there does nothing to dispell the myth that Irish are all mad alcoholics. The post match stuff is just 4 OAPs muttering to themselves.

 

 

I hate that cunt eamonn dunphy

 

He is a twat like. Him and Jackie Charlton never saw eye to eye.

 

It is funny the post match stuff, its just 4 grumpy old gits

[McFaul 35]

I wouldn't say the defenders in La Liga are all that bad. Not as physical as the PL but they are definitely not sub-standard.

 

La Liga seems to get slammed a lot lately for being a two team league (which is true) as though the other teams are fucking Hearts and Motherwell or something. La Liga has some very good sides with some very good players apart from Barca and Real Madrid.

 

Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Mad., etc etc.. Good sides which challenge for silverware in the Europa cup every year. And before someone starts with the ''The Europa league is a joke" line, I think it is a fairly good indicator of the depth of a league in terms of the comparable strength of the mid-table teams.

When you consider bottom half sides like Boro and Fulham made the final I'd agree.

 

...and both got beat in finals off superior Spanish also-rans

Sevilla also rans the same Sevilla who were leading La Liga with 3 weeks to go that season, who were only 5 points off winning it. Also rans

 

Atletico second biggest spenders in Spain last season, with the a £40m rated striker playing up front with the World Cup player of the tournament. Also rans

 

Must try harder.

[McFaul 35]

I watched it on RTE and although it was in the pub, i caught one commentator comparing the spanish league to the scottish league. Watching the whole coverage on there does nothing to dispell the myth that Irish are all mad alcoholics. The post match stuff is just 4 OAPs muttering to themselves.

 

 

I hate that cunt eamonn dunphy

 

He is a twat like. Him and Jackie Charlton never saw eye to eye.

 

It is funny the post match stuff, its just 4 grumpy old gits

Who's that Irishman, who sounds a tiny bit yank on ESPN, he's about 65 but always comes across like he's on a good cowie.

[Tooj 17]

It's quite pathetic the way people are trying to do a disservice to Messi.

 

If you can't appreciate what a brilliant footballer he is, then you should be following a different sport.

 

He's what the game should be about, despite the over the top commercialism, players being detached from the fans, having their every will pandered to.

 

He's the complete opposite, he just wants to go out there and play football. He doesn't have an ego to get in the way of this, as despite all of his individual talents, he's also a brilliant team player.

 

We should be enjoying watching someone like him, while it lasts. As I don't think the games seen a player like him since Ronaldo burst onto the scene in style at Barcelona.

[Happy Face 29]

I wouldn't say the defenders in La Liga are all that bad. Not as physical as the PL but they are definitely not sub-standard.

 

La Liga seems to get slammed a lot lately for being a two team league (which is true) as though the other teams are fucking Hearts and Motherwell or something. La Liga has some very good sides with some very good players apart from Barca and Real Madrid.

 

Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Mad., etc etc.. Good sides which challenge for silverware in the Europa cup every year. And before someone starts with the ''The Europa league is a joke" line, I think it is a fairly good indicator of the depth of a league in terms of the comparable strength of the mid-table teams.

When you consider bottom half sides like Boro and Fulham made the final I'd agree.

 

...and both got beat in finals off superior Spanish also-rans

Sevilla also rans the same Sevilla who were leading La Liga with 3 weeks to go that season, who were only 5 points off winning it. Also rans

 

Atletico second biggest spenders in Spain last season, with the a £40m rated striker playing up front with the World Cup player of the tournament. Also rans

 

Must try harder.

 

I'm confused by your point then.

 

How's the Spanish league so much more pish than the English?

 

I must have misread.