Lionel Messi- The Record Breaker

[Shadydan]

Not for me. He's 5 foot 6.5 inches- he's too small to be a CM. Imagine someone like Pogba up against him in 3 years time- he'd be destroyed. I see him becoming more of an attacking midfielder instead of a forward- but a part of a midfield 2 in a CM/CDM role? I doubt it.

He's the same height as Iniesta.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

He's the same height as Iniesta.

Iniesta doesn't play as part of a 2
in midfield- Modric does and that was the comparison

 

[TaoistMonkey]

All done whilst coasting in the Spanish league.

Meh.

 

[Spurslove]

Agree Messi's CL exploits negate any criticism of his lack of international medals, but I think World Cup glory carries something else that CL medals don't: that sense of popular romanticism that elevates a great player to God status, literally in Maradona's case.

I appreciate that not everybody shares my view, and I've had endless discussions about Maradona and how good he was, but I honestly believe that NONE of his achievements or performances are worth anything, seeing as he was proven to be a junked up cheating little gobshite, possibly throughout his career, so that eliminates him from the equation, for me.

Messi is the greatest player I have ever seen. Nobody comes close. Not Cruyff. Not Best, Not Zidane, Not Platini and not even Pele or Hoddle.

I watch Messi play and he makes me smile. He is an absolute joy to watch and he restores all my faith in great football and the way I'd like to see it being played. He is not the massively ego'd primadona which we too often see in Ronaldo. His game-play is a joy to watch. His assists are just as exciting as his goals, and the number of assists is in itself a phenomena.

We may or may not have seen the best of him, but even so, he wins my prize for the greatest ever, and believe me, in the fifty odd years of watching football, I've seen a few.

 

[Shadydan]

Iniesta doesn't play as part of a 2
in midfield- Modric does and that was the comparison

That doesn't make a lot of difference to be honest okay there is more defensive responsibility in a cm2 but in terms of coming up against physical players I don't see how the likes of Poges would destroy him, in terms of physicality Messi is one of the most physical players out there, his stature and the fact that he has a low centre of gravity makes it hard to o shake him off the ball.

However you're right about Modric, he has played in a cm2 and he is of the same build as Messi and he coped as well although I still think his defending is the weakest part of his game, he has improved though.

 

[goughie1966]

I appreciate that not everybody shares my view, and I've had endless discussions about Maradona and how good he was, but I honestly believe that NONE of his achievements or performances are worth anything, seeing as he was proven to be a junked up cheating little gobshite, possibly throughout his career, so that eliminates him from the equation, for me.

Messi is the greatest player I have ever seen. Nobody comes close. Not Cruyff. Not Best, Not Zidane, Not Platini and not even Pele or Hoddle.

I watch Messi play and he makes me smile. He is an absolute joy to watch and he restores all my faith in great football and the way I'd like to see it being played. He is not the massively ego'd primadona which we too often see in Ronaldo. His game-play is a joy to watch. His assists are just as exciting as his goals, and the number of assists is in itself a phenomena.

We may or may not have seen the best of him, but even so, he wins my prize for the greatest ever, and believe me, in the fifty odd years of watching football, I've seen a few.

Messi plays in one the greatest teams ever. Would Messi have got these records playing for Spurs? Messi has also been playing at a time when pitches are like carpets and flair players have far more protection from referees. Maradona played at a time when defenders got away with kicking lumps out of him and on some dreadful pitches. Lineker said the goal Maradona scored against England was even more incredible because he said the pitch was one of the worst he had to play on in his international career.

Maradona played for ordinary teams and pretty much won the WC on his own and transformed Napoli single handedly. I doubt there's very few Argentinians that would agree with your view. If you swapped both players around there's no way Messi would have acheived what he has playing in the 80's. Now imagine what Maradona would have done in the Barcelona side that Messi plays in today.

And Argentina would have won the WC this year with Maradona playing at his peak. That's the difference.

I do think Messi is one of the greatest but I can't put him above Maradona. Messi has been very average in World Cups playing in very good Argentinian sides but has failed to deliver.

However I do agree that Maradona was an unpleasant character to say the least while Messi is pure class. BTW, you might want to watch this, he's not perfect either :

 

[yankspurs]

http://www.espnfc.us/barcelona/stor...-but-would-not-rule-out-barcelona-exit-father

 

[Blake Griffin]

Not for me. He's 5 foot 6.5 inches- he's too small to be a CM. Imagine someone like Pogba up against him in 3 years time- he'd be destroyed. I see him becoming more of an attacking midfielder instead of a forward- but a part of a midfield 2 in a CM/CDM role? I doubt it.

is height really that important? i think putting say two 6'3 guys in central midfield creates the illusion of a physically dominant midfield pairing but what are really going to dominate? other than winning the ball in the air i don't really see what value height has and football is becoming less and less physical anyway. the dm position is even known as the 'makelele' to a lot of people, a player who was barely 5'7.

 

[Spurslove]

Messi plays in one the greatest teams ever. Would Messi have got these records playing for Spurs? Messi has also been playing at a time when pitches are like carpets and flair players have far more protection from referees. Maradona played at a time when defenders got away with kicking lumps out of him and on some dreadful pitches. Lineker said the goal Maradona scored against England was even more incredible because he said the pitch was one of the worst he had to play on in his international career.

Maradona played for ordinary teams and pretty much won the WC on his own and transformed Napoli single handedly. I doubt there's very few Argentinians that would agree with your view. If you swapped both players around there's no way Messi would have acheived what he has playing in the 80's. Now imagine what Maradona would have done in the Barcelona side that Messi plays in today.

And Argentina would have won the WC this year with Maradona playing at his peak. That's the difference.

I do think Messi is one of the greatest but I can't put him above Maradona. Messi has been very average in World Cups playing in very good Argentinian sides but has failed to deliver.

However I do agree that Maradona was an unpleasant character to say the least while Messi is pure class. BTW, you might want to watch this, he's not perfect either :

In answer to the hi-lighted sentence...no, but then again neither would Maradona.

You do make a fair point about the difference in the states of the pitches these days compared to the bogs which players used to play on many years ago. That's why I always say what brilliant players they used to be, like Bestie and Greavesie. I often wonder to myself what sort of player our Jim would have been in modern conditons (that's when I start salivating at the thought).

I agree it's always hard to compare players of different generations for this and various other reasons, but all I'm saying is that in my opinion, Messi is the greatest player I have ever seen play, and to be honest, he gets kicked from pillar to post week in week out in La Liga too and doesn't do too badly by it, so I'm not sure if he'd have been any worse if he'd played all those years ago.

My opinion of Maradona and all his achievements are stuck inside my head I'm afraid, and will probably never change.

 

[Gassin's finest]

In answer to "but can he do it on a wet wednesday in Stoke in the winter" was given in the CL game against Celtic the year before. Which was "no".

 

[THFCSPURS19]

La Liga record broken.

 

[nailsy]

The champions league record is probably going to change hands a few times this season

 

[SpursManChris]

Not for me. He's 5 foot 6.5 inches.

5'7" actually, that wiki listing is currently inaccurate. Quite unfair to not give him the full 7. He's always looked bigger than that to me, more like 5'9".

 

[Danny1]

Messi is a magical footballer, the way he just glides past people with such ease and then simply places the ball perfectly into the corner is magnificent. I too rate him above Ronaldo because of the team work and bringing others into the game. Its funny though that if you listed all the attributes of a top footballer then you would describe Ronaldo but Messi just has that something extra.

In terms of the best ever, my old man (64 years old) will never entertain anyone but Pele, which means that I have seen many many games of Peles that my old man has made me watch. Pele was incredible, he did things with the ball that no one could do, not Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona or Eusebio. He was purely a magical footballer and one that I dont think will ever be bettered.

But hey, this is football and its all about opinions which is what makes it so great!

 

[michaelden]

I know its not popular but I still wonder how much was down to HGH, and whether he is still taking it

 

[AW?]

I think people are a little obsessed with him winning the WC. It's all living ups to Maradona which is a bit harsh really. It's harder to win the WC now as the standard is higher across the board, i mean Ronadlo is up there with the best too isn't he and nobody even mentions him needing to do so.

For me Messi is incredible and the best of his generation overall playing in a golden age of Spanish football at the most consistent Spanish side, but Maradona was the best player ever. Forget the stats.

 

[AW?]

I know its not popular but I still wonder how much was down to HGH, and whether he is still taking it

Mate i'm wondering if Bale is now on the juice considering how big he's suddenly got.

 

[Ribble]

I know its not popular but I still wonder how much was down to HGH, and whether he is still taking it

Given it was used as a medical therapy to make up for his body not producing growth hormones, I'd say probably not that much. It's not like some bodybuilder juicing to get ripped as fuck, he needed it to reach just about average height and build.

 

[michaelden]

Given it was used as a medical therapy to make up for his body not producing growth hormones, I'd say probably not that much. It's not like some bodybuilder juicing to get ripped as fuck, he needed it to reach just about average height and build.

But in this day & age, it would've been easy to over medicate to aid in recovery. And he shouldn't be on it now, but there's no news about it. And since his benchmark was set as a child, it would be easy to continue to give him doses of HGH and have none the wiser.

 

[Ribble]

But in this day & age, it would've been easy to over medicate to aid in recovery. And he shouldn't be on it now, but there's no news about it. And since his benchmark was set as a child, it would be easy to continue to give him doses of HGH and have none the wiser.

Not really, it would still show up in drug testing. Even if he still was on it as part of ongoing treatment and had a medical exemption they'd know what levels they'd be expecting in his system when testing him. It's highly unlikely that he's been on it since he was a kid IMO. He's hardly suddenly become massive, it took years for him to become less than waif-like, and he's hardly comparable to the likes of CRonaldo and Bale when it comes to muscle mass even accounting for build.