It's time we had a dedicated Messi thread. Aged 24 Messi just won his 3rd Ballon D'Or award. The only people to equal that are Cruyff, Platini and Van Basten. It's hard to imagine Messi winning less than 5.

I think Messi is well on the way to becoming, at worst, the 2nd greatest player of all time. He's easily to compare to Maradona, and his career is clearly more impressive at this point in time. He's too young for the media to widely speak of him as the GOAT, but as the years progress I think there's going to be little doubt.

His story is very cool. He had a growth defect, and was 4"10 aged 13. River Plate in Argentina refused to pay his $900/mo treatment, but, via relatives, Messi was able to arrange a trial at Barcelona. Barcelona sporting director Carles Rexach offered him a contract, written on a napkin, on the spot, later saying "In two minutes, I saw his speed, his skill and decided we would sign him."

Videos







Quotes

"He is the best player in the world by a long distance. He is like a playstation." - Arsene Wenger

"Messi is on another planet." - Arjen Robben

"You have to see it – it is not something you can describe because you have to see it to believe it." - Pep Guardiola

"If he continues to do what he have been doing and he will probably be the greatest player there ever been” - Sir Bobby Charlton

"Messi is an incomplete player because he can't use his head. Maybe one day there will be some player who will play more games than Pele did, or score more goals than Pele did. But I think that is a little difficult." - Pele

why do you keep making bad soccer threads

World Cup fail tho

He is already the GOAT imo. There are people who won't say so until he does it on the WC stage but not me. Dude is so far ahead of everyone else it's frightening.

This is just lazy commentating. Joe Buck would be proud.

He was 18 in his first world cup, and in 2010 he played very very well and ran super bad. IIRC he had something like the most assists, most shots on target and hit the woodwork 4 or 5 times.

not really

yeah i dont think its too early to label him the GOAT assuming his career trajectory doesnt fall off a cliff

no one is trolling the barry larkin thread, why u gotta troll this one

I mean there are good professional players and then there is Messi, the modern game is so tough and IMO if you put Messi in Maradonas or Peles games I think he would still dominate but if you were to reverse that scenario, Im not convinced that Pele and Maradona would dominate modern football in the same way.

he is obviously potentially the GOAT, lets see if he realises that potential I guess!

needs to win a WC imo to be indisputably the GOAT, but pretty close Im guessing now

fwiw a great man once said this about sideshow bob, and he's no GOAT

Well, the comment about sideshow Bob said he was like an 8 or 9 yr old with a playstation.

Stop posting in soccer threads if this is going to be your contribution. Final warning.

Great thread!! lol @ cant use his head. champions league final anyone? He also scored with his head in the first game of 2012.

I think Messi is clearly the best player of all time, but he might have to win a World Cup to have the best career of all time. I think we can easily separate his skill from his accomplishments. Fwiw I think even if he stopped playing today he has enough credentials to be the goat.

arshavin is cack

now lets lock this thread until Messi is capable of carrying a very mediocre Argentinian team to world cup glory.

Messi needz moar rangz

If you knew how average the rest of the argentinian squad was in 1986 you would understand it. Argentina wasnt even seeded in that World Cup.

Messi is going have the same 26 years Maradona had in 86 and this Argentina team is also quite average so he will have his shot.

Nah, he wouldn't be anywhere near GOAT if he quit today.

Another 5-6 years and it will be indisputable though.

How much did Messi play in 06? I remember thinking that team was quite good. Definitely disappointed in 10. Run bad or no, dude didn't finish and they should've had a better result imo. It's a results-oriented business when it comes down to fine distinctions between players at the elite level.