10 - Lionel Messi - V6

He might come back for the Copa America. It'll take a big persuasion.

Sad times, not only will Ronaldo continue to play for Portugal in 2018, he'll play the Euro Qualifiers next year, then Euro 2020, and the 2022 World Cup too, look how he fluked the Euro 2016, he could do it again in one of them, while Leo's sitting at home retired...

Pedro said:

Sad times, not only will Ronaldo continue to play for Portugal in 2018, he'll play the Euro Qualifiers next year, then Euro 2020, and the 2022 World Cup too.

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Ronaldo is on a different level physically and mentally.

Pedro said:

Sad times, not only will Ronaldo continue to play for Portugal in 2018, he'll play the Euro Qualifiers next year, then Euro 2020, and the 2022 World Cup too.

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it's amazing you've managed to stick around here with your trolling for so long. it's much more subtler than that of others, for sure.

Pedro said:

Sad times, not only will Ronaldo continue to play for Portugal in 2018, he'll play the Euro Qualifiers next year, then Euro 2020, and the 2022 World Cup too, look how he fluked the Euro 2016, he could do it again in one of them, while Leo's sitting at home retired...

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Ronaldo will easily get 100 goals and break the record too.

Messi should play in Copa as it's the last chance of a trophy for him. If they play the likes of Dybala, Lo Celso, Lanzini and Icardi they've got a chance.

I think he's probably waiting to see who the next coach is and what his plans are.

KingLeo10 said:

it's amazing you've managed to stick around here with your trolling for so long. it's much more subtler than that of others, for sure.

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Me stating facts is trolling? I wish Leo would play through to 2022 world cup too

Pedro said:

Me stating facts is trolling? I wish Leo would play through to 2022 world cup too

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actually remember your posts after the croatia game in the WC and even before during the neymar transfer saga. but like I said, you're more subtle than the others, so kudos.

Ritchie said:

Ronaldo will easily get 100 goals and break the record too.

Messi should play in Copa as it's the last chance of a trophy for him. If they play the likes of Dybala, Lo Celso, Lanzini and Icardi they've got a chance.

I think he's probably waiting to see who the next coach is and what his plans are.

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Its also useful in finding out how much depth do the team has, or how could they play and win without him. Currently, the are even more dependent on Messi than Barca.

Or It could also be a standoff against Sampaoli, who knows.

Dont be a pussy , Leo.

Donatello said:

Its also useful in finding out how much depth do the team has, or how could they play and win without him. Currently, the are even more dependent on Messi than Barca.

Or It could also be a standoff against Sampaoli, who knows.

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Sampaoli is gone.

GOAT_SUAREZ said:

Ronaldo is on a different level physically and mentally.

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look, another troll, we do these people get tolerated here

Devils said:

[tw]1029403148710858752[/tw]

It's over.

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good, pointless friendlies anyway, better to rest that and prepare for barça games

If Messi decides to stop playing for Argentina, he needs to stop playing for Argentina for good. If he decides to resume his NT career after an announcement that he ends it like he did the last time, the media will have too much fun.

I think Messi should continue playing for Argentina.

I'm happy he is skipping meaningless Friendlies. That's good.

From another topic:

Judoman said:

[MENTION=16942]BBZ8800[/MENTION]

I don t know where you see a decline in Messi s dribling. The guy has not lost anything, infact he improved vision, passing and free kick shooting. I wouldn t even say
that he lost anything physically. I just don t see it.
I will agree, that he looks like he lost a part of motivation. I think this influences his (lack of) movement. I don t agree, that this part of mentality is a skill. It s hard to stay motivated once you rich the top and
he went there, like no footballer in history.
Physically he is more than capable to play anywhere in the attacking half. Motivation though...that s another story..

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Imo, he has clearly lost some of his pace and acceleration.
Again, if we would have to estimate in numbers, if his pace was 8 and acceleration 10 in the past, today his pace is at 7 and acceleration at 7.
That's just my personal estimation.

Also, if you watch old matches, you will see those little bursts in the first few steps which aren't here anymore.
Or when he is tackled, in the past he needed, let's say 0,3 seconds to react and try to win the ball back, while today he needs let's say 0,6 seconds to react.
I mean, that's not only him, every single human gets slower in reactions, movement and everything with age. I know that he is not 60, but if you are older than 30, then you probably know by your personal reactions that you are physically a few miliseconds slower in every reaction that as a teen or in early 20s.

Now, some videos, and I guess that you will see that a lot of things from these videos don't exist in Messi's play anymore.
Also, in these old matches, it seems that he worked harder in defense and off the ball. He wasn't walking as much as in the last few years.
His feet were way faster also.

Anyway, check by yourself: