Lionel "The Greatest of All Time" Messi V2

[soul24rage]

True cule

 

[khaled_a_d]

@Barcaman @serghei @khaled_a_d
I know that you guys have been following Barcelona since at least the Van Gaal era (1997-2000) so I want to know, what was your opinion on Messi before he broke out, like his first season 2004-05. Did he have the same hype as Lamine Yamal or were people more cautious regarding hyping him up

Well, that was the time when "hi5 and myspace were very relevant social media, YouTube and Facebook were the new thing for millennial kids, they weren't even that relevant worldwide yet (I am talking 2004) and "goal dot com" was still called soccerage, and forums were the dominant domains for football discussions.

Football manager was called championship manager, and only after its rebrand at the end of 2004 it became so popular worldwide.

So, for Messi there wasn't much hype around him. He was just another youngster you get some news about him, same way like Cesc and Pique when they left. It was just "barca talented teenager leaves the club" news. You got guys like Robinho, Ronaldo, Roony and Robben at the time, even Diego. older but young players that everyone talks about.

Barca had good squad that suffered many injuries in 04/05, and it was why Rijkaard called Messi a lot. But he didn't rely on him, we even bought Maxi Lopez to provide depth rather than relying on Messi.

The hype started in summer 2005, Messi dominated the U20 World Cup, and unlike Saviola who did the same on 2001, Messi was very young back then, he was eligible to play in the next World Cup in 2007.

So, 05/06 social media is getting bigger, forums too, and Messi is playing in CL and now he is seen Worldwide.

I remember back then Real bought Robinho, and he was supposed to be the one matching Ronaldinho, even had to make every Brazilian player in their squad to say that Robinho is equally good to Ronaldinho but is younger and has higher potential (it was cringe)

Then couple of months into the season, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, their Brazilian head coach said they shouldn't be comparing Robinho to Messi because Messi has been in Spain for years.

Hype got bigger as years moved by, mainly because he was getting better, and because the internet and social media dominated life aspects together.

After Messi generation, and with FM and social media rise, there was a section of fans who became self described scouts. The likes of Ballotelli and Bojan probably got more hype in their debuts or before it, than Messi himself in 2004. Deulofeu probably got more hype online at the age of 14 than Messi at 17. I remember around 2007 there was this Spanish site called airfutbol. Those annoying cunts were hyping every kid that played in La Masia back then.