Lionel Messi | PSG Watch

Zen

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Yes except ignoring the fact that most of Messi goals for Argentina came in…..friendlies.

Quite a different context of matches compared to qualifiers since you like to bring up the context factor.

Ronaldo’s record for Portugal is rightfully lauded because it is an incredible feat.

Back to the Messi thread. Incredible game tonight and it must be said that in his whole career this is the most engaged and best I’ve seen him perform for Argentina in the past year. Everything seems to be clicking for Argentina and they look like a proper team and a top 3 contender for the WC this winter.

The WC Will be his last hoorah and I expect he will try to be at the abso Peak of his powers one last time before he retires.
To be fair, I think his point is that basically all the teams in the Conmebol are better than a team you will almost certainly face at least once in Every bi-annual qualifying campaign that European nations play in 'competitively', sometimes you'll get 2 of these teams. So at worst, a European player will get 4 teams to feast on, if not 6... vs maybe Bolivia twice every four years, one of which is at ludicrous altitude. Venezuela the other 'bad' team are better than the likes of Estonia, forget Luxembourg or San Marino.

It's right, but who the feck cares. At some point, Harry Kane will have like 100 goals in International, well probably 80. In fact, England had Andorra, San Marino and Albania in their group... is it surprising Kane and Lewa had 20 goals between them?
 

KirkDuyt

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It's quite clear that players go to PSG to collect their check and waddle about against farmers that cant compete anyway.
 

Hoof the ball

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Copa America 2021. 4 goals, 5 assists (9 direct goal contributions) in 7 games and MOTM in every single game in a Copa America win.

Such an overlooked individual performance in an international tournament.
 

Oly Francis

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It's quite clear that players go to PSG to collect their check and waddle about against farmers that cant compete anyway.
This message is an insult to Messi's professionnalism. We're talking about one of the greatest player who ever set foot on a football pitch, entertaining the idea that he could be satisfied by his season with PSG just because he got a nice paycheck is preposterous and makes of a mockery of the dedication to the game needed to be at the highest of the higest level for 15 years.
 

Pink Moon

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Yes except ignoring the fact that most of Messi goals for Argentina came in…..friendlies.

Quite a different context of matches compared to qualifiers since you like to bring up the context factor.

Ronaldo’s record for Portugal is rightfully lauded because it is an incredible feat.

Back to the Messi thread. Incredible game tonight and it must be said that in his whole career this is the most engaged and best I’ve seen him perform for Argentina in the past year. Everything seems to be clicking for Argentina and they look like a proper team and a top 3 contender for the WC this winter.

The WC Will be his last hoorah and I expect he will try to be at the abso Peak of his powers one last time before he retires.
Mate, these are some of the teams Ronaldo has played in qualifiers: Latvia, Andorra, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Israel, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Iceland, Malta, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Albania, Republic of Ireland etc.

Look at these groups:

 

Iker Quesadillas

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Copa America 2021. 4 goals, 5 assists (9 direct goal contributions) in 7 games and MOTM in every single game in a Copa America win.
Angel Di Maria was the Man of the Match in the Copa America final as well as the game against Paraguay.
 
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KirkDuyt

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This message is an insult to Messi's professionnalism. We're talking about one of the greatest player who ever set foot on a football pitch, entertaining the idea that he could be satisfied by his season with PSG just because he got a nice paycheck is preposterous and makes of a mockery of the dedication to the game needed to be at the highest of the higest level for 15 years.
Seems I misspoke then, I clearly meant it to be an insult to PSG :nervous:
No offense really
 

shamans

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This message is an insult to Messi's professionnalism. We're talking about one of the greatest player who ever set foot on a football pitch, entertaining the idea that he could be satisfied by his season with PSG just because he got a nice paycheck is preposterous and makes of a mockery of the dedication to the game needed to be at the highest of the higest level for 15 years.
Then why else has he gone ? To compete for the coveted Uber eats league ? :lol:
 

Oly Francis

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Seems I misspoke then, I clearly meant it to be an insult to PSG :nervous:
No offense really
It can't be an insult to PSG without being an insult to Messi as well.


Then why else has he gone ? To compete for the coveted Uber eats league ? :lol:
You totally missed the point. Lets say he went for the money (which is only part of the reason but we'll let that slide for the sake of the argument), implying that Messi would be perfectly content with just collecting his check and "waddle about" is a clear disrespect for the champion he is. Same would go for Cristiano, Nadal, Jordan, they don't waddle about, they hate loosing more than anything else.
 

Tyrion

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Then why else has he gone ? To compete for the coveted Uber eats league ? :lol:
He went because Barca couldn't afford him. Messi is kinda weird. I dont think he's as driven as Ronaldo and he seems more laid back.
 

Oly Francis

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He went because Barca couldn't afford him. Messi is kinda weird. I dont think he's as driven as Ronaldo and he seems more laid back.
By all accounts he is. He might express it in a less obvious way but you don't have his carreer if you don't have a huge drive. Guardiola described him as a "fierce animal who hates loosing".
 

Tyrion

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By all accounts he is. He might express it in a less obvious way but you don't have his carreer if you don't have a huge drive. Guardiola described him as a "fierce animal who hates loosing".
Maybe he's just more sensitive. Iirc, he retired from and then came back to international duty.
 

RedRonaldo

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Scoring 5 goals in a match is really an amazing feat, even though it’s against cannon folders in a meaningless friendly. He is surely not done yet, at least not for Argentina.
 

Pretzels81

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Feck's sake, they are winning this WC, led by Messi.

Late-peak career with the NT.
 

RedRonaldo

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Copa America 2021. 4 goals, 5 assists (9 direct goal contributions) in 7 games and MOTM in every single game in a Copa America win.

Such an overlooked individual performance in an international tournament.
To be fair, those stats are mostly inflated in 2 games against Bolivia and Ecuador, where he has 3 goals 3 assists in these 2 games against the canon folders alone, so in other 5 games against decent opponents (Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Columbia, Brazil) he has 1 goals 2 assist, not so bad. It’s a good tournament overall for him regardless, but hardly one of his greatest. He has his worst game in final against Brazil (was probably the worst Argentinian player on the pitch with zero contribution, one theory was that he was playing with injury), and relatively quiet game in semi against Columbia. So right, he wasn’t motm in these 2 games at the very least.
 
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dan1509

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To be fair, those stats are mostly inflated in 2 games against Bolivia and Ecuador, where he has 3 goals 3 assists in these 2 games against the canon folders alone, so in other 5 games against decent opponents (Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Columbia, Brazil) he has 1 goals 2 assist, not so bad. It’s a good tournament overall for him regardless, but hardly one of his greatest. He has his worst game in final against Brazil (was probably the worst Argentinian player on the pitch with zero contribution, one theory was that he was playing with injury), and relatively quiet game in semi against Columbia. So right, he wasn’t motm in these 2 games at the very least.
The fact they think the Copa win is equivalent to Ronaldo's euro win is astonishing. Actually, I think am mistaken, they actually believe its superior due to the stats you posted :lol:

A tournament that has 10 teams (4 of which are shite), where he plays for the 1st/2nd best team of the tournament in every edition. You essentially start this tournament as a quarter finalist and just need to win 3 knockout matches considering it starts with a group of 5 where 4 go through and one of the 5 teams is Bolivia/Venezuela. Keep in mind he has had 6 attempts (4 in the last 6 years!!) at it. A real underdog story.
 
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shamans

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You totally missed the point. Lets say he went for the money (which is only part of the reason but we'll let that slide for the sake of the argument), implying that Messi would be perfectly content with just collecting his check and "waddle about" is a clear disrespect for the champion he is. Same would go for Cristiano, Nadal, Jordan, they don't waddle about, they hate loosing more than anything else.
It's not disrespecting his career. His career is in its own place and he has achieved what he has so whatever he does now won't change that but you can't say with a serious face Messi has gone to PSG for some exciting new challenge.

I think it's clear it's an easy paycheck in the twilight of his career and let's him focus more on Argentina.
 

shamans

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Feck's sake, they are winning this WC, led by Messi.

Late-peak career with the NT.
He does look dangerous and Argentina are playing well as well. This honestly could be the national trophy "seal" ending to Messi's career.

World cups are tough though. A lot has to go right. It's what makes them memorable for me. In a way unlike a season long league a world cup is a bit like a movie with random variables having crazy consequences.

Not to drag Ronaldo into everything but how I wish there's a huge knockout round game between Argentina and Portugal. One final chapter of Messi vs Ronaldo. Shame that it will be in the historic legendary stadiums of Qatar but still :lol:
 

Gehrman

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Maybe he's just more sensitive. Iirc, he retired from and then came back to international duty.
Cryuff retired at 28 and went into pig farming and then came out of retirement once he'd lost all his money to play in the MLS. I've never seen him being slated for it.
 

Gehrman

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Watching the highlights he's still not got his best dribbling ability back despite scoring 5 goals. Anyway it's just Estonia. I don't expect Messi to kill it at the WC at 35.
 

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Why can’t Ligue 1 clubs bring in some amateur players from Estonia or Bolivia?
 

amolbhatia50k

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Watching the highlights he's still not got his best dribbling ability back despite scoring 5 goals. Anyway it's just Estonia. I don't expect Messi to kill it at the WC at 35.
I don't think he's going to get his best dribbling back at the age of 35. Everyone declines, that's normal.
 

genardk

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Imagine Messi having 30-40 games against Luxembourg, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Gibraltar, Malta, Andorra, Liechtenstein. Belarus, Estonia, he would probably average 2 goals per game easy..

Euro qualifications are a joke, perfect environment for stat-padding, and I have no idea why UEFA is not considering adding a pre-qualification group round for these multiple minnows. Gerd Muller scored 68 goals in 62 games when none of these teams other than Lux existed, yet the guy averaged 1.1 goal per game..
 

Gehrman

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Hadn't noticed he's overtaken Pele's total goal record
 

Acheron

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Imagine Messi having 30-40 games against Luxembourg, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Gibraltar, Malta, Andorra, Liechtenstein. Belarus, Estonia, he would probably average 2 goals per game easy..
Doesn't he already have something like that in the uber eats league?
 

Anderson_7_

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I don't expect Messi to kill it at the WC at 35.
Neither do I, but we're in the minority. A huge chunk of people seem to think he's immortal and don't want to accept obvious and expected signs of decline.

And I'm not even trying to discredit his goals - 5 goals in a single game is solid even against Estonia. But everyone's taking it to one extreme or another.
 

Gehrman

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Neither do I, but we're in the minority. A huge chunk of people seem to think he's immortal and don't want to accept obvious and expected signs of decline.

And I'm not even trying to discredit his goals - 5 goals in a single game is solid even against Estonia. But everyone's taking it to one extreme or another.
Yeah the average retirement age for footballers is 35 and most are finished at that point so I don't no why some keep commenting on him as if he were 25. His natural ability cant stop the decline that comes with age.
 

Needham

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Yeah the average retirement age for footballers is 35 and most are finished at that point so I don't no why some keep commenting on him as if he were 25. His natural ability cant stop the decline that comes with age.
Did you know that Barcelona paid for his growth hormone therapy?
 

Needham

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I'm pretty sure he can afford it himself.
He might be able to afford it but he's clearly independently incapable of undertaking the transaction himself. And this is some serious matter. PSG's investment is literally shrinking. And all you can say is he can afford it himself ffs
 

King7Eric

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He might be able to afford it but he's clearly independently incapable of undertaking the transaction himself. And this is some serious matter. PSG's investment is literally shrinking. And all you can say is he can afford it himself ffs
Wtf :lol: Surely this is an all time classic Caf post.