Lagos wrote:Maybe when he's retired I will look back and appreciate him but I'm quite numb to Messi right now, plus I detest anything Barcelona. They are the reason I lost interest in laliga. Maybe I am missing out on the greatest footballer ever as they say, too bad for me I say!
He's boring isn't he. There isn't much fun to watching Barcelona or Messi. Bring back Dinho I say, that guy was amazing.
Pele is mad
Pele: If Messi wants to be the best ever first he must become better than Neymar
Brazilian football idol Pele has restated his belief that Neymar is a better player than Barcelona star Lionel Messi, and argued that the Argentine must first overcome the young Santos star before he can challenge 'O Rei' as the greatest to ever play the game.
The three-time World Cup winner was speaking on Tuesday at a press conference marking Santos' centenary celebrations in April 2012.
Never shy about publicising the ability of Neymar to the press, the 71-year-old pushed the youngster ahead of Messi in his list of the world's current stars.
"Now everyone is talking about Messi, he is a star. But [to be the best ever] he must first become better than Neymar," he asserted.
"At the moment Messi is just more experienced."
The Brazilian also played down the public feud he has allegedly maintained with Diego Maradona, insisting that there is no bad blood between the two men.
"You [journalists] are always saying that I am Maradona's rival, but it is not true. I was never his rival, and he was a great attacking midfielder," the veteran explained.
Neymar needs to come to europe and stop pissing about in Brazil.
Pele talks absolute shit.
Bored of this lad.
Ronaldinho had more natural talent.
Woah, woah, woah!
Ronaldinho was far more entertaining but Messi is an absolute beast. (and yes, I know you were joking)
Pele's an incredible gibberer, those blue pills must've cooked his brain.
Got a hunch that Neymar might just be another Robinho in Europe. Maybe that's just because he'll never end up at Arsenal... 
Neymar is a beast, but only a truly partisan and bitter individual would ever consider comparing him to Messi. I would be giddy if he turned out for the Gunners.
Eh, got to come to Europe and prove himself, that's just how it is.
Can't imagine if Barca had this front 3 at their peak.
Ronaldinho Henry Messi
Anyway, anybody watched Messi's ITV documentary? Shows how amazing he is
The three most skillful forwards I've ever seen are Ronaldinho, Bergkamp and Rivaldo. Messi is a better and more functional player than all three of them ever were but he doesn't have the same grace. Neymar har similar grace when you watch him play. Suppose it comes down to personal preference but I'd rather watch him play football than Messi.
I came to the conclusion a while back that Messi is, in fact, a robot. They made him in the lab at la masia, forget all the nonsense about growth hormones, they were just the research years.
Klaus wrote:The three most skillful forwards I've ever seen are Ronaldinho, Bergkamp and Rivaldo. Messi is a better and more functional player than all three of them ever were but he doesn't have the same grace. Neymar har similar grace when you watch him play. Suppose it comes down to personal preference but I'd rather watch him play football than Messi.
I think I agree, not specifically about Neymar because I've not seen enough of him, but definitely on Ronaldinho and Bergkamp.
I actually prefer watching cRonaldo to Messi as well.
There's definitely something a bit soulless about Messi's football. Maybe he is just too good.
Could be that, stange isn't it?
I haven't really watched Messi's brilliance over the past couple of years.
Only time I've really sat down and watched a Barcelona game for the whole 90 was whenever we played them or the last few champions league finals or an El Clasico.
He does look amazing when I do manage to catch the odd la liga game or the highlights
Seen even less of Madrid because I can't stand Mourinho and the likes of Pepe so I can't really comment on how Ronaldo's doing over there since for all I know he could have scored 50 world class goals
Never found Rivaldo that amazing to watch. Very selfish and used to shoot from all sorts of redonculous angles.
Timbo wrote:Never found Rivaldo that amazing to watch. Very selfish and used to shoot from all sorts of redonculous angles.
Like Ronaldo.
Was thinking on wednesday that he must be a nightmare to play with; you love the goals, but jesus christ does he take some liberties.
Rivaldo for a few years was one of the best one-man shows I've seen. Still don't think I've ever seen a better individual performance than that hattrick against Valencia where he did this:
Klaus:
Couldn't find a video of the whole thing but Henry was immense that day.
It's definitely up there.
What I love the most about that goal is how fucking mean it is. Henry humiliates the best right back in the world just because he can. He lets Zanetti know exactly what he's going to do and then he does it. There was nobody who could stop him.
Clrnc wrote:Can't imagine if Barca had this front 3 at their peak.
Ronaldinho Henry Messi
Anyway, anybody watched Messi's ITV documentary? Shows how amazing he is
They had Henry-Eto'o-Messi in 08-09 and the three of them score 100 goals combined. Frankly it's all been downhill since then.
Captain wrote:There's definitely something a bit soulless about Messi's football. Maybe he is just too good.
I think it's the speed at which he does everything. He seems to be on Red Bull (TM) the whole time. I know what you mean about soul though. Watching guys like Rivaldo, Bergkamp, Ronaldinho, Riquelme, etc, there seems to be some salsa or fox trot to their game. The whole body moves and deceives opponents - the hips swerving, heads turning, shoulders dropping. It can be magical. I want someone like that at Arsenal. Now
On peak form:
Riquelme or Xavi/any other creative midfielder this decade?
Loads of guys ahead of Riquelme for me, even the young ones like Cesc and Ozil.
Riquelme is too perculiar for me. Needs the whole team to be built around him otherwise he won't be effective whatsoever.
Captain wrote:I came to the conclusion a while back that Messi is, in fact, a robot. They made him in the lab at la masia, forget all the nonsense about growth hormones, they were just the research years.
Was thinking about this too watching the documentary. No other reason how can someone dribble so ridiculously good and take defence out singlehandedly match after match.
General Mirth wrote:On peak form:
Riquelme or Xavi/any other creative midfielder this decade?
Depends on what you mean by "creative" but Pirlo is easily the best midfielder I've seen the last decade. Xavi has never had the same range in his game. Scholes was better than Xavi too.
Riquelme wasn't close to neither of them apart from perhaps that one peak season. He was stupendously talented but also incredibly fragile mentally. I'd put him in the same bracket as Juan Sebastian Verón, who's another player who never delivered on his full potential. Veron reached higher heights with Lazio than Riquelme ever did though.
Ummm...Zinedine Zidane....?
Lol. Duh.
He was pretty good to be honest.
messi is just ruthlessly efficient. no wasted movement, no unnecessary flicks or showboating. there's no egotism or swagger to his game. he doesn't play to entertain us or to defeat or embarrass his opponents. i'm not sure i've ever even seen him acknowledge that defenders exist. he is all about doing what's best for the team, which is scoring and creating goals, and he does it in euclidean fashion, taking the shortest possible distance (in a manner of speaking) to achieve those aims.
Hehe...shortest...
Messi is the best I've ever seen, and he's got to be right up there as one of the best of all time already. It's also true however, that there have been one or two other 'greats' over the years who are in Messi's ballpark when it comes to the raw stats-Di Stefano, Gerd Muller, Pele (obviously) etc.
kamikaze wrote:messi is just ruthlessly efficient. no wasted movement, no unnecessary flicks or showboating. there's no egotism or swagger to his game. he doesn't play to entertain us or to defeat or embarrass his opponents. i'm not sure i've ever even seen him acknowledge that defenders exist. he is all about doing what's best for the team, which is scoring and creating goals, and he does it in euclidean fashion, taking the shortest possible distance (in a manner of speaking) to achieve those aims.
I totally agree with you, Messi is the most efficient footballer I have ever witness in my entire life. There isn't one ounce of showboating in his game. That his why a lot of people don't seem to rate, people want to be entertain while watching football match.
When you watch Zidane play you see an entertainer, an artist at work. When you watch Messi you see a freak of nature that just score or create at will
I think that he is soooo dominant that a lot of people don´t really appreciate what he does. You have come to expect it. He really does some amazing things almost every game he plays.
Not many people raised an eyebrow I´d guess when he scored 5 in the CL the other week. He got 5? Ah well.
I hope Romaldo tops him tomorrow. I want to see those pompous twits effectively lose the title against Madrid.
I hope Barca fans appreciate how many unbelievable footballers they've had at their club. Just in recent years they've had - off the top of my head, and just looking at attacking players - Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Henry, Deco, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romario, Figo, Kluivert... Christ. And that's without their current crop of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Villa. Most of those are (or will be) legends of the game. Looking further back, they also had Cruyff, Laudrup, Stoichkov, Guardiola... apologies to any players I've forgotten!
Scary stuff.
