Well if the whole team plays like they did in World Cup or even Copa América, it won't be easy for him to beat Batigol's record.

Call me an optimist... but Argentina's midfield and defence can only improve. Though the root of the problem is clearly the administration, the coaching and the politics involved.

BarcaKizz wrote:Call me an optimist... but Argentina's midfield and defence can only improve. Though the root of the problem is clearly the administration, the coaching and the politics involved.

Spot on Kizz.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpas6i_messi-belgeseli-yngilizce_sport#from=embediframe

Great 45min documentary by ITV4 on Messi, worth the watch for someone who doesn't know much about him, and those who know everything about him too.

Pique: "I thought Messi was mute when he first came to Barcelona, but now he speaks more than most on the pitch." myth busted?

Thanks for sharing that Albi, very nice watch. Barca are lucky to have him!
Messi

Oh yeah, and the stuff Arsene was saying about him

Milan31 wrote:Thanks for sharing that Albi, very nice watch. Barca are lucky to have him!
Messi

Oh yeah, and the stuff Arsene was saying about him

Yeah I was trying to make out what he was saying about Messi being able to dribble from the halfway line and score but I couldn't understand through his thick french accent.

Barca official website put on Leo's stats for all goals scored: how,when etc...

This part i found the most interesting,


Phase of the game
MINUTES GOALS
1-15 ///// 20 Goals
16-30 ///// 37 Goals
31-45 ///// 41 Goals
46-60 ///// 31 Goals
61-75 ///// 29 Goals
76-90 ///// 75 Goals
Extra ////// 1 Goal


Check out the 76-90 % of goals scored... What a champion, numbers sometimes can show us things about the personality of a player! He's there when we need him, that's for sure !


The rest are here if anyone is interested
www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/messi-detailed-analysis-of-234-goals

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

Awsome they did this together, that kid is an inspiration.... he plays every sport in the book, putting his disability behind him. His name is Soufian and spends some time with Messi here and there!

heres another video of D105 with Soufian.

There are no words left to describe him. I am surprised no thread has been created to celebrate his incredible achievement of becoming all time Barca top scorer at this young age. Anyway I bow to the little genius for the umpteenth time.

Former Real Madrid and Argentina star Jorge Valdano:
“We judge Maradona based on his entire career, while Messi is still only 24. The fact that we’re already comparing them is a tribute to what Lionel has achieved. If we have to differ between them, you can say that Maradona was more artistic and had a unique, beautiful style of play. Messi on the other hand is more efficient and more consistent. He’s dangerous every time he gets the ball. If he continues to perform at this level, he will exceed everyone, including Pele.”


100% agree with him, everything he said is true.

In terms of “efficiency” and “consistency” it will be very difficult to surpass pele. If you imagine messi as he is now, pele was doing it aged 17 for club, and country at the world cup. Then he continued that form for another 10 years, then after that he won another world cup. Up to the age of 24, excluding friendlies, peles goal/game average was about 1.3, messis is about 0.7. His consistency at the very top his game is why hes often regarded as “the king” of football, its difficult to see messi surpassing it.
Maradona sadly wasn’t as consistent throughout his career. In his younger years he was phenomenal in argentina, if he stayed there perhaps he would have been more consistent. The years in argentina were perhaps his best, and sadly much of it lost in history. As it was the first two years in Europe were ruined by illness and injury – the injury sustained by an awful tackle which was met with a 16 match ban for the culprit to highlight just how bad it was. Then he started cocaine which did not help his career.... but when he was fit he was incredible for Barcelona, which is something people don’t realise. Then he went to Italy, the most defensive league in the world to play for a relegation team (perhaps not the wisest career move), where Napolis tactics (and this is a quote from the manager) was to “build a concrete block and let maradona attack”. He was an inspiration to Napoli, not just the team, the whole city. In the world cup he told the neopolitans to cheer argentina instead of Italy and they did! He wasn’t always at his very best but he took an underdog and led them towards becoming champions, that’s something very rare and beautiful in any sport
I agree with Jorge, maradona was not a machine like messi (or pele), he was an artist, like zidane and platini, but better, much better, the genius of football with pele the king and messi the apprentice (so far). Ruud krol who played against diego said it well - “his technique is as good as the mind can imagine”

efficiency or consistency as you say well... then the name Gerd Müller comes on top of the food chain, unless were going for total quantity and in that case its still not Pele but rather 2 other players off the top of my head Arthur Friedenreich. But people generally need to get their heads out of the stats a little and use their god given eyes to really have a real vision and opinion.

Maradona did not need to score much to be considered what he was, he had that same aura of "every time he touches the ball something big might happen" as Messi. And yes Valdano said it perfectly imo also, but well Messi is not all machine, lets be fair, Diego had more artistry yet Leo is still somewhere not far from the top, obviously Dinho, Zidane and Iniesta are also in that mix.

Liked the way you summed it up about Maradona, but i suppose we should keep this topic more "Strictly Messi"

Get ready for some Goosebumps.. awesome video.

Timing of Messi's goals.

matpol wrote:

Timing of Messi's goals.

Needs to work on extra time goals.

Flopped horribly. That is all.

Looked a spent force all game. Needs rest.

Yeah, he was actually responsible for both games in some ways. The goal we conceived away was from his lost ball, and this penalty and so many lost balls!!! He is obviously exhausted. That is why I hope Vila gets to 100% next season and we can give him rest with Vila Alexi Fab playing

I feel sorry for him.

I saw effort, I saw leadership, I saw him trying.

But things just didnt work, his passing was bad, its only possible to dribble 1 or 2 people at a time in that congestion and then he hit the bar and post.

I just felt sorry for him, he just couldnt do what he needed.

BarcaKizz wrote:Flopped horribly. That is all.

Looked a spent force all game. Needs rest.

This is actually the first big game that imo he truly flopped.
I think we should have seen the writing on the wall after the Levante game.He was walking about the entire match and looked gassed.
Then he put in a Herculean effort in the first leg against Chelsea and I think his legs gave way after that game.
Looked like he had nothing in the tank against Madrid and same yesterday.
Just didnt have anything left to give.
he has played a ridiculous amount of games over the past 4 years.
Unfortunately for us,he ran out of gas at the wrong time.
Still have to appreciate his effort.

OMG, critics are saying now that Messi doesn't perform in important matches He just was fatigued and couldn't unlock the defense. What are these guys expecting him to be? God? He is human and he is meant for mistakes... Also Ronaldo will not win the Ballon D'or atm as Messi has clearly scored more goals and has had more assists than Ronaldo. Hopefully he can score more goals next seasont to get the trophy four years in a row...

Who are those critics you speak about? I mean, you can talk about Messi being tired, dropping form lately, but not performing in big games is utter shit.