Lionel Messi

CM

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He'll probably be out after 2 and they will pay up the rest anyway. Looks more like fudging the numbers than taking a pay cut
 

ThierryHenry14

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He'll probably be out after 2 and they will pay up the rest anyway. Looks more like fudging the numbers than taking a pay cut
He can just walk and sign for city or PSG. Why would he take a pay cut given his performance? He is doing Barcelona a favor by staying and spread out the payment.
 

ivaldo

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i am extremely optimistic about it. Barca had the highest revenue pre-pandemic. It will come back strong in 2 years. Just need time to clean up the mess.
You'll have to clarify why you're extremely optimistic.
 

CM

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He can just walk and sign for city or PSG. Why would he take a pay cut given his performance? He is doing Barcelona a favor by staying and spread out the payment.
I didn't say he should but reporting it as such is disingenuous
 

VanKenny

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Messi is definitely the best player in Copa, but to be honest, it’s kind of flaw to use it as player to player comparison as many players in Euro didn’t have enough minutes to compare as some of them couldn’t even proceed further from early knockout stage.

Note all the stats used “most amount of x.” to compare, naturally, the player who has played most of the games would have the advantage. The most suitable stats for comparison would be “most key pass” and “most dribble stats” as both players has played all the games in the tournament.

It does prove Messi is by far best/most impactful player in Copa though, who did dominate the tournament.

Its funny to see Ronaldo fans suddenly be able to look past statistics and do a more in-deep analysys to explain them when they benefit Messi... yet when its the other way around its basically "CR7 MORE GOALS BETTER PLAYER STATS STATS STAAATS" disregarding the 450 goals against Lithuania, his bad CL final performances, his bad KO stages in world cup performances etc, which are the things that should actually matter more.
 

Daysleeper

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That's curious because in the WC Messi was unable to help against Iceland or Greece.
In 12 games vs european teams in the WC he got 2 goals and 4 assists, 1 goal and 1 assist vs Serbia-Montenegro when he was young and entered when result was already 3-0 and with an extra man, 1 assist in extra time vs Switzerland, 1 goal vs Bosnia-Herzegovina and 2 assists vs France.
I don't know whose circles are those.
certainly, but the concept that SA is full of weak competition is blatantly wrong.
 
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RedRonaldo

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Nonsense, there is no one around today who could dominate a tournament statistically like that, no matter what tournament it was. It’s like this every year in La Liga, Messi heads virtually every single attacking statistical category, whilst in the other leagues its a whole bunch of different players leading the different categories.
You have been missing the point, not that he hasn’t dominate the tournament, he has. But to put the attacking stats up as “players to players comparison” to another bigger competition isn’t on fair ground to begin with at all. In Copa who’s his main rival playing similar no. of games who could match those attaching stats in terms of “most numbers”? Only Neymar, and Neymar did rank 2nd in most of attacking stats as listed, so naturally he was the 2nd most dominating player in Copa too. If Messi didn’t play Neymar name would top of almost everywhere too.
 

RedRonaldo

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Its funny to see Ronaldo fans suddenly be able to look past statistics and do a more in-deep analysys to explain them when they benefit Messi... yet when its the other way around its basically "CR7 MORE GOALS BETTER PLAYER STATS STATS STAAATS" disregarding the 450 goals against Lithuania, his bad CL final performances, his bad KO stages in world cup performances etc, which are the things that should actually matter more.
Well it’s nothing about Ronaldo, I never even mentioned him once in this thread, look how childish is your response!. Just that in general it’s not apple to apple comparison, doesn’t means it’s not impressive. Of course it is, and I don’t understand why you take it as offending in simply stating the truth. All I am saying is, its dominating, but not comparable.
 

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You have been missing the point, not that he hasn’t dominate the tournament, he has. But to put the attacking stats up as “players to players comparison” to another bigger competition isn’t on fair ground to begin with at all. In Copa who’s his main rival playing similar no. of games who could match those attaching stats in terms of “most numbers”? Only Neymar, and Neymar did rank 2nd in most of attacking stats as listed, so naturally he was the 2nd most dominating player in Copa too. If Messi didn’t play Neymar name would top of almost everywhere too.
Might be because Neymar is the second best player in the world when he bothers to and would dominate those stats across European leagues, too, if it wasn't for Messi ;)

Actually, there are three players who dominate most attacking stats across the top 5 leagues outside of goals and those are Messi, Neymar and Sancho. United fans should consider themselves very, very lucky :)
 

Adisa

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He can just walk and sign for city or PSG. Why would he take a pay cut given his performance? He is doing Barcelona a favor by staying and spread out the payment.
The idea City and PSG are willing to pay Messi 2m a week is a myth everyone seems to believe. For all their bad press, they are two pretty well run clubs.
 

Zehner

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The idea City and PSG are willing to pay Messi 2m a week is a myth everyone seems to believe. For all their bad press, they are two pretty well run clubs.
Didn't City prepare a €700m deal over the course of four or five years, in cooperation with their partner club in the US?

They'd take him in a heart beat and would find a similar construct to this one, most likely probably almost twice as high as that.
 

Adisa

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Didn't City prepare a €700m deal over the course of four or five years, in cooperation with their partner club in the US?

They'd take him in a heart beat and would find a similar construct to this one, most likely probably almost twice as high as that.
Did anyone credible report this?
 

Pep's Suit

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Didn't City prepare a €700m deal over the course of four or five years, in cooperation with their partner club in the US?

They'd take him in a heart beat and would find a similar construct to this one, most likely probably almost twice as high as that.
Castles reported this and even he said they'd pay him partly with City Football Group shares.
 

NasirTimothy

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You have been missing the point, not that he hasn’t dominate the tournament, he has. But to put the attacking stats up as “players to players comparison” to another bigger competition isn’t on fair ground to begin with at all. In Copa who’s his main rival playing similar no. of games who could match those attaching stats in terms of “most numbers”? Only Neymar, and Neymar did rank 2nd in most of attacking stats as listed, so naturally he was the 2nd most dominating player in Copa too. If Messi didn’t play Neymar name would top of almost everywhere too.
It totally is a fair comparison. If Messi played in the Euros it would be exactly the same. Even in the World Cup in 2014 when he won the Golden Ball he had;

the third most goals,
the most key passes,
the most chances created,
the most though balls,
the most successful dribbles,
the most outside the box goals,
the most free kick goals,
the most points won,
the most MOTM awards and
the best average rating

He’s been doing this for years in every competition. That’s why he’s by far the best player of this generation IMO.
 

RedRonaldo

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It totally is a fair comparison. If Messi played in the Euros it would be exactly the same. Even in the World Cup in 2014 when he won the Golden Ball he had;

the third most goals,
the most key passes,
the most chances created,
the most though balls,
the most successful dribbles,
the most outside the box goals,
the most free kick goals,
the most points won,
the most MOTM awards and
the best average rating

He’s been doing this for years in every competition. That’s why he’s by far the best player of this generation IMO.
Not saying he couldn't, but first his team has to be able to end up in the final to have enough game time for him to accumulate the highest stats, second he might have to up against more teams who has more defensive or negative setup in Euro than SA teams.

Another example is, players like Mbappe who has similar or better stats than Neymar last season, but he is nowhere to be seen in Euro stats list at all. I know he has a bad tournament, but it also shows there are more variables which could affect the top players performance in Euro. Then of course there is Sancho, who used to has good stats in everything - goals, assist, dribble, key pass etc, but he wasn't even trusted by his manager in England, hence he is nowhere to be seen in the list too.
 

Marcosdeto

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Not saying he couldn't, but first his team has to be able to end up in the final to have enough game time for him to accumulate the highest stats, second he might have to up against more teams who has more defensive or negative setup in Euro than SA teams.

Another example is, players like Mbappe who has similar or better stats than Neymar last season, but he is nowhere to be seen in Euro stats list at all. I know he has a bad tournament, but it also shows there are more variables which could affect the top players performance in Euro. Then of course there is Sancho, who used to has good stats in everything - goals, assist, dribble, key pass etc, but he wasn't even trusted by his manager in England, hence he is nowhere to be seen in the list too.
so ronaldo being the CL top scorer shouldnt count, because he played more games that the rest of the players

ok
 

RedRonaldo

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so ronaldo being the CL top scorer shouldnt count, because he played more games that the rest of the players

ok
Another one who took it wrongly. I never said it shouldn't count, Its impressive and dominating ok, but it isn't comparable when the original poster trying to put it as an apple to apple comparison. Its more like top player from one single FA cup tournament shouldn't be compare with those in one Italian cup tournament, or something. Don't think its really that hard to understand this concept, if you don't take it wrongly.
 
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amolbhatia50k

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Another one who took it wrongly. I never said it shouldn't count, Its impressive and dominating ok, but it isn't comparable when the original poster trying to put it as an apple to apple comparison. Its more like top player one FA cup tournament shouldn't be compare with players in one league cup tournament, or something. Don't think its really that hard to understand this concept, if you don't take it wrongly.
Those stats really are astonishing and I don't really see how there's any other way to interpret it. It's rare to see a player come out trumps in that many aspects, hence the praise is deserving. As for comparing, it doesn't belong in this thread, but I don't see why one can't generally draw a comparison given, as I said, you don't often get a player who is so good at so many key areas for an attacker and that too in one tournament.
 

RedRonaldo

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Those stats really are astonishing and I don't really see how there's any other way to interpret it. It's rare to see a player come out trumps in that many aspects, hence the praise is deserving. As for comparing, it doesn't belong in this thread, but I don't see why one can't generally draw a comparison given, as I said, you don't often get a player who is so good at so many key areas for an attacker and that too in one tournament.
Agree it's astonishing though.
 

RedRonaldo

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my point is still valid
Well, there's quite a huge difference. For a start, one off tournament in just 4 or 7 games against completely different opponents isn't really the same as career long stats/performance in a competitions for over 150 games against similar opponents. Anyway lets move on and not dwell into this, as this is Messi thread.
 
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Ladron de redcafe

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It totally is a fair comparison. If Messi played in the Euros it would be exactly the same. Even in the World Cup in 2014 when he won the Golden Ball he had;

the third most goals,
the most key passes,
the most chances created,
the most though balls,
the most successful dribbles,
the most outside the box goals,
the most free kick goals,
the most points won,
the most MOTM awards and
the best average rating

He’s been doing this for years in every competition. That’s why he’s by far the best player of this generation IMO.
He's a human video game. He is so far ahead of everyone else, that it's laughable.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Might be because Neymar is the second best player in the world when he bothers to and would dominate those stats across European leagues, too, if it wasn't for Messi ;)

Actually, there are three players who dominate most attacking stats across the top 5 leagues outside of goals and those are Messi, Neymar and Sancho. United fans should consider themselves very, very lucky :)
Too much common sense for Ronaldo fans. Surprised you even had to clarify something this simple and obvious. If Messi weren't around, Neymar would be dominating because he, too, is an incredible player.

But Messi is around. And he's the best player on the planet, even at this age. So his dominance isn't that surprising.
 

Hernandez - BFA

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Every time I read this thread, 95% of the replies who drag Messi down are ones with "Ronaldo" in their names, any name or tag relating to Portugal, Sporting Lisbon or Madrid, or two of the raging Ronaldo fans.

Those stats from Messi about being top of everything at the Copa - the crazy thing is that I wasn't fazed by it, I wasn't surprised by it. That's the expectation we've hit with Messi playing. Obscene, complete statistics like that - I'm desensitized by them because we know that's what Messi does.

The greatest player I have ever seen.
 

RedRonaldo

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Might be because Neymar is the second best player in the world when he bothers to and would dominate those stats across European leagues, too, if it wasn't for Messi ;)

Actually, there are three players who dominate most attacking stats across the top 5 leagues outside of goals and those are Messi, Neymar and Sancho. United fans should consider themselves very, very lucky :)
Well I know you want me to admit Neymar is an amazing player, because you know I always have this irrational hate on him.

But there are actually many amazing players from Europe who isn't performing in Euro (Mbappe, Sancho, Bruno etc). I personally think its harder to perform in Euro because there are more teams and more variables. But anyway, its not meant to be detrimental to performance of Messi or Neymar at all, I'll have to admit, they have been amazing in Copa.
 

MalcolmTucker

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Another one who took it wrongly. I never said it shouldn't count, Its impressive and dominating ok, but it isn't comparable when the original poster trying to put it as an apple to apple comparison. Its more like top player one one single FA cup tournament shouldn't be compare with those in one Italian cup tournament, or something. Don't think its really that hard to understand this concept, if you don't take it wrongly.
It's difficult to understand your point. The stats show Messi dominates attacking statistics, no one using it to directly say his dribbling is better than Sterling or his chance creation better than Pedri. It's just an overview of how dominant Messi is with the ball, which you acknowledge yourself but seem to be downplaying it for obvious reasons. Thing is, this is regular for Messi and he's dominated attacking statistics at the World Cup, Copa Americas, Champions Leagues and La Liga - he isn't given bonus games to boost his stats, he enters a tournament with hundreds of other players and usually comes out as either the top, or at least among the top performers in all attacking measures. To still be doing it at 34 at an international tournament and in a top league is insane.
 

Zehner

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Well I know you want me to admit Neymar is an amazing player, because you know I always have this irrational hate on him.

But there are actually many amazing players from Europe who isn't performing in Euro (Mbappe, Sancho, Bruno etc). I personally think its harder to perform in Euro because there are more teams and more variables. But anyway, its not meant to be detrimental to performance of Messi or Neymar at all, I'll have to admit, they have been amazing in Copa.
Yet Sancho is the only one who can somewhat keep up with Messi and Neymar stats in European club competitions and he didn't get to play much. I'd understand your initial point if the Copa stats of Messi and Neymar were outliers but in fact they are confirmations of what they produce at club level
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Well I know you want me to admit Neymar is an amazing player, because you know I always have this irrational hate on him.

But there are actually many amazing players from Europe who isn't performing in Euro (Mbappe, Sancho, Bruno etc). I personally think its harder to perform in Euro because there are more teams and more variables. But anyway, its not meant to be detrimental to performance of Messi or Neymar at all, I'll have to admit, they have been amazing in Copa.
And there are many mediocre players who are excelling in the euros. Case in point Schick. Lukaku is hardly a world beater and he has 4 goals, because performing in the euros is easier than it is in Copa America.

I know they've been amazing. Messi just became the first man in history to end up top scorer, top assister، and player of the tournament of a major tournament. Amazing is an understatement. The fact that he did so in the copa makes it even more remarkable.
 

RedRonaldo

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It's difficult to understand your point. The stats show Messi dominates attacking statistics, no one using it to directly say his dribbling is better than Sterling or his chance creation better than Pedri. It's just an overview of how dominant Messi is with the ball, which you acknowledge yourself but seem to be downplaying it for obvious reasons. Thing is, this is regular for Messi and he's dominated attacking statistics at the World Cup, Copa Americas, Champions Leagues and La Liga - he isn't given bonus games to boost his stats, he enters a tournament with hundreds of other players and usually comes out as either the top, or at least among the top performers in all attacking measures. To still be doing it at 34 at an international tournament and in a top league is insane.
Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough, its not meant to be a downplay or anything, but I just don't see it as comparable the way it has been put forward as a direct comparison of players' stats between 2 completely different tournament. If it was standalone list showing Messi's brilliance in Copa, its perfectly fine for me. And I think he fully deserve to win Ballon D'or this year too.
 

RedRonaldo

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And there are many mediocre players who are excelling in the euros. Case in point Schick. Lukaku is hardly a world beater and he has 4 goals, because performing in the euros is easier than it is in Copa America.

I know they've been amazing. Messi just became the first man in history to end up top scorer, top assister، and player of the tournament of a major tournament. Amazing is an understatement. The fact that he did so in the copa makes it even more remarkable.
Not sure if this is factually correct, but that's surely sounds abit over the top to me. No doubt he has been the best player this year in any major tournament, but its nothing like near the best I've seen from him or from other top class performances like Maradona 86, Platini 84, Baggio 90 or even L.Ronaldo 98 etc., as I get from the tone of your statement. He has a rather poor final game (injuries?) and an average group game, to call it beyond amazing.. But overall, in general, he was amazing.
 

VanKenny

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Not sure if this is factually correct, but that's surely sounds abit over the top to me. No doubt he has been the best player this year in any major tournament, but its nothing like near the best I've seen from him or from other top class performances like Maradona 86, Platini 84, Baggio 90 or even L.Ronaldo 98 etc., as I get from the tone of your statement. He has a rather poor final game (injuries?) and an average group game, to call it beyond amazing.. But overall, in general, he was amazing.
It is not factually correct, because Messi himself has done it before, both in La Liga and in the CL, where he has won the pichichi, the most assists, most MOTM's, highest average rating, most dribbles and key passes etc.
 

NasirTimothy

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Not saying he couldn't, but first his team has to be able to end up in the final to have enough game time for him to accumulate the highest stats, second he might have to up against more teams who has more defensive or negative setup in Euro than SA teams.

Another example is, players like Mbappe who has similar or better stats than Neymar last season, but he is nowhere to be seen in Euro stats list at all. I know he has a bad tournament, but it also shows there are more variables which could affect the top players performance in Euro. Then of course there is Sancho, who used to has good stats in everything - goals, assist, dribble, key pass etc, but he wasn't even trusted by his manager in England, hence he is nowhere to be seen in the list too.
I really think you are fighting a losing battle here, with all due respect…..
 

RedRonaldo

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I really think you are fighting a losing battle here, with all due respect…..
Well I understand why its easy to make this assumption, but I am not even coming for a fight here :lol:

Sorry for disappointing you, but out of respect, we can always fight on the other threads, but not this one. ;)