10 - Lionel Messi - V6

Azpilicueta one of the best Pl defenders was literally outplayed for Messi's third goal against Chelsea and his acceleration was so good that Messi got away from Azpi . No player will play like the way they played in his teens . Doesn't mean that he declined in those aspects. Dribbling , Faints , acceleration , ball controll , first touch man is still the best in these aspects . That goal against Nigeria was work of art. Forget about the first and second touch look at his acceleration and the way he got away from the defender . people still have the audacity to doubt his skillsets . I do agree that he looks static at times and isn't letting himself available for through balls and passes which is kinda making it easy for defenders to mark him easily. That's one area he should work at. Apart from that nothing has changed from 2015 . His free kicks are as deadly as any other player in the world and does shoot with the much more venom compared to his younger days . Especially from outside the box . Number of goals he scored from outside of the box in past 3 years is lot more than during Pep Rijkaard and Tito era . The goal he scored against sevilla in dying minutes ; i don't remember him scoring a goal back in his youngers days like that

KingLeo10 said:

so you don't see any difference between his abilities 1 on 1 at the moment and his ability in the years I posted?

I don't see why this is such a sacrilegious claim, as to me he doesn't dribble multiple players with as much ease as he used to. For example, I don't see him being able to score the caliber of goal today like the copa del rey final goal v Bilbao (2015) . Maybe you can convince me otherwise with numbers and videos rather than emojis.

Click to expand...

He dribbled 3 Boca players storming in the box and almost finished but the ball was deflected and he tripped a bit. He would've tucked that away no doubt. That was today.

His top end speed seems to have declined naturally through wear and tear, but he's still quick and very agile, can turn on a dime. He still dribbles players for fun but it's more to evade than to attack, which seems a good progression from la pulga days.

Perhaps he is instructed not to run/dribble millions of players solo mazy runs to prolong his GOAT career?

He wants to win CL again. Well sitting out the Copa Del Ray would be a start.

catalinutzR80 said:

Click to expand...

Looking like the 14-15 season again

KingLeo10 said:

so you don't see any difference between his abilities 1 on 1 at the moment and his ability in the years I posted?

I don't see why this is such a sacrilegious claim, as to me he doesn't dribble multiple players with as much ease as he used to. For example, I don't see him being able to score the caliber of goal today like the copa del rey final goal v Bilbao (2015) . Maybe you can convince me otherwise with numbers and videos rather than emojis.

Click to expand...

https://youtu.be/icXig98kMI8

Somebody already posted this, but just a reminder. Last season with fat suarez, busquets, rakitic, ageing iniesta and combination of dennis/gomes/paulinho. Let's do the math like some smart asses here do just to make it clear what i saw last season and for me that was the most enjoyable season watching messi play considering ev.

Pep Barca - 10/10 that team was out of this world, evolutionary and set standards for years to come
Standout players: Puyol, Pique, Alves, Busquets, yaya toure, keita, Xavi, Iniesta, Eto'o, Henry, Villa, Pedro.

Lucho's barca - 8/10 with msn we were monsters in attack, i wonder what that would look in pep barca with peak xavi and iniesta behind them
Standout players: alves, iniesta, xavi(rakitic), neymar, messi, suarez

Ev barca - 6/10 - old iniesta, conservative tactics, midlefield of rakitic busi and paulinho, fat suarez with couple of brilliant moments, umtiti first half of the season, and for fuck sake, for the first time i can remember everybody talked about ter stegen being world class and important member of the squad, best player behind messi, efin goalkeeper, in barcelona!?
Standout players: Ter Stegen, Rakitic, Messi

Now, go watch that 40 minutes higlights of last season and make a efin judgement. Thats the closest you can get to superman by a human being. I cant believe i'm writing this on barca forum, on the topic of our best player of all time, efin goat. Ffs

No NT and no Copa would do the trick for the UCL

Let's hope Leo scores vs. Alaves

GOAT_SUAREZ said:

No NT and no Copa would do the trick for the UCL

Click to expand...

I can't see us winning CL this year.

-City are much better than us
-RM are similarly good but with winning mentality
-PSG and Liverpool are similarly good but with more athleticism which is crucial for knockout stages
-Bayern, Juve, and Atletico are also about as strong as us and would be close to 50/50 if we face them

FCB1987 said:

I can't see us winning CL this year.

-City are much better than us
-RM are similarly good but with winning mentality
-PSG and Liverpool are similarly good but with more athleticism which is crucial for knockout stages
-Bayern, Juve, and Atletico are also about as strong as us and would be close to 50/50 if we face them

Click to expand...

de Bruyne's injury might actually be a blessing in disguise for him and City in the Champions League. Get him fit with plenty of rest in time for the business end of the season/latter stages of the Champions League. I can't wait to see how well City does in the Champions League in this Guardiola's third season with City.

City's not winning the CL. It's not meant to happen. Can't see it.

Joan Laporta said:

City's not winning the CL. It's not meant to happen. Can't see it.

Click to expand...

That's what they said about Chelsea mate.

Did post-Barca Pep manage Chelsea?

FCB1987 said:

I can't see us winning CL this year.

-City are much better than us
-RM are similarly good but with winning mentality
-PSG and Liverpool are similarly good but with more athleticism which is crucial for knockout stages
-Bayern, Juve, and Atletico are also about as strong as us and would be close to 50/50 if we face them

Click to expand...

That's the spirit

Joan Laporta said:

Did post-Barca Pep manage Chelsea?

Click to expand...

Judoman said:

Who was he playing with than and who is he playing with now? He wasn t the only danger in the team back then was he?

Click to expand...

During Msn, he had better attacking partners than under Pep.
Plus he still had Iniesta, Busquets and Alves.
Only Xavi was missing.

Yet, the opponents were neutralizing him way easier.
Did he create 2-3 actions at all against Atletico over 360 minutes in a Cl?

Again, with Msn, Iniesta, Busquets (and Alves).

Mitchell1978 said:

Last season in La Liga, the amount of succesfull dribbles was the 2e highest of his career in La Liga (after 2010-11) and his dribble success % was the highest.
Before you post you should really look at the facts!
Imo he lost some pace and acceleration which is normal when you're 31 but his still effective like crazy, thats what the stats/facts show.

Click to expand...

A lot of dribbles last season came at the center of the pitch against attackers and midfielders and not against true defenders, when he is dropping deep and dribbles past opponent's attacking players while trying to create, right?

Stats don't tell everything.