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In 11/12 Messi put everything into every game and had nothing left for the two vital games against Real Madrid and Chelsea, the two games that cost Barca their shot at the big prizes. It's the big games that matter most for big players to produce. Yeah credit to him for Sevilla but for some...

Messi generally steps up his level for the big games. Ronaldo saves his A game for Getafe and Granada. If Barca are a few goals up then Messi switches off and conserves energy. Ronaldo plays the same way at 5-0 up because he wants more goals and exploits any weakness in beaten opponents...

Not in the big games that decide the trophies. What did he drag them to? Knocking in hat-tricks against the dregs of La Liga in games Madrid would win easily anyway is pointless. Valencia and the second leg against Juventus were the two games that mattered. Apart from the inevitable Penaldo in...

How will Penaldo get on with Rafa?

He'll be happy with his pichichi but not at being taken off. He'd have got those 2 goals the way Getafe were defending tonight.

Thanks Carlo. Getafe weren't even trying to defend today and wouldn't have been fair to equal Messi's record after the pathetic last two opponents they've faced. He'll probably break it next season if they get the usual 15-20 penaldo's and he plays 35+ games.

Maybe because they don't play 60 x 90 minutes a season for an all out attacking Real Madrid, shoot on sight score 20 penalties a season and take every direct free kick. Give the other Ronaldo that platform and how many would he score? He takes advantage of weak as shit defences. Where was he...

He'll win the ballon d'or now.

Oh well. Looks like 50 goals for the stat padder. Fuck this league. The Madrid media will ignore half of them were penaldo's.

Valencia and Juventus were the must win games. Not beating Valencia ended the league and not beating Juve cost them a CL final and Penaldo did nothing in the two games but score and miss a Penaldo. Yesterday he pops up with a hat-trick after Barca were already winning, but the league had gone...

And that's why he struggles to score against teams who can actually defend, apart from the inevitable Penaldo of course. He doesn't even get marked half the time against half the crap in Spain. The same teams who'll put 4 men on Messi whenever he's near the ball.

Without more CL titles, or at least a few more La Liga titles, Penaldo has flopped compared to other club greats. Look what De Stefano achieved. Even Raul won 3 CL titles and loads of league titles although he was obviously there longer to win them. Who cares if he's got Pichichi's and Ballon...

There's no real upgrade. Obviously they aren't getting Pep, Mourinho's been and gone, Simeone's not feasible. Heynckes has retired. Who are they looking at beyond that? Ancelotti is the only other manager on that level. Beyond that they're looking at Klopp or a flavour of the month.

Only needs a Penaldo or a tap in.

Messi still had a good impact on the World Cup despite not being fit. Maradona's club career highlights were basically centred around a few years at Napoli but no impact on the European Cup. As much as he's up there in the top 3 of all time he hasn't achieved everything as a player. Penaldo...

Robben's another one who I think is a better footballer than Ronaldo and has been very underrated and basically the reason Holland did so well in the last two World Cups, plus an awesome CL season in 12/13 wiping the floor with Barca and then scoring the winner in the final. But Christiano is...

A prime Messi would have still won Argentina that cup on his own. He just wasn't fit.

This is another key point. Ronaldo's durability is one of his best assets as well as his hunger for goals. Ronaldo is regarded as the ultimate goalscorer and a modern Gerd Muller but he has 10 chances to score every game. The fact he hardly ever gets injured and plays every 90 minutes nearly 60...

He should have got the 50+ goals or got closer to it from the position he had. He was on a ridiculous tally of goals from the first 15 games or so. This is a player who goal hangs most of the game, is in a team that creates countless chances for him gift wrapped, gets loads of free kicks in...

He's jinxed against Chelsea and wasn't fit for that Bayern semi. Those Bernabeu goals won that tie. Hasn't helped that he's sometimes looked shattered at this stage of the season. Hopefully we can get two big performances from him in this tie. I think we'll need him more next week because...