FC Barcelona Thread

Overall of the season of Messi at by now (only club matches!):

60 goals
23 assists

It's 83 goals directly produced by him

And we're not counting goals in which he produces the play or shots on goal, keeper saves and another one taps in, for instance...

It's a monster. No one had had this ammount of numbers on a top club. How scary is watching him grow more and more. It seemed impossible to improve his last season, and he does it with a bang.

What's next? Where's the peak of his wonder?
 
By the way, it's usual that our opponents do absolutely nothing to improve the grass during the whole week before the match. Most of them just don't cut the grass at all or don't water it for days, hoping the ball goes as slow as possible. In my oppinion it's a dirty trick that's comparable to diving, cheating or any other classless action of the game.

But there are limits to it. Saturday, Barcelona had to play in a grass that had trebles and even FLOWERS in it! They had done nothing to the grass in a whole week!

Something should be done to at least make sure that the clubs don't go that far. At least some rules that all clubs should follow, with a minimum and maximum length of the grass blades and that they MUST water the grass sometime before the match.

PS: The conflict between Barcelona and Milan that sprouded weeks ago was not because of the state of the pitch in itself, it was about Milan doing nothing to improve it even if they sweared they would. So, because they lied. The same for Zaragoza, they said to the federation they were going to water it and cut it. And they ended up playing in a pitch with flowers in it.
 
Just seen this, has the potential to be as memorable as Maradona V Belgium

di-IC8W.gif


:...
 
that is so funny! Messi made them look clownish 4 to 5 players got sucked it. Brilliant!

I remember Messi at 18 vs Chels , now at 22... Oh Dear :COAT:
 
That was a brilliant action from Messi.

Look i will apologize beforehand, but everytime Maradonna-Belgium is mentioned i feel a litle bit revolted. This was just a picture in a match that Argentina lost, where Maradonna had no impact at all...this has become an iconic picture. But this proves that legend are sometimes completely wrong. This was the opening match of the 1982 WC in Spain. Belgium won that match with 1-0 and Maradonna scarcely had any impact at all in that WC. In fact in the second group stage (a group with Brazil, Argentina and Italy) he even got sent off...

4 years later in Mexico, Argentina played Belgium once again, this time in the semi-finals and then Maradonna truly beat Belgium all by himself. But the picture is not from that match.

How do i know? Because on the famous picture you can see CB Maurice Deschryver and he only played once for our national team...in that particular match (he played because the first choice libero Walter Meeuws was banned for a red card).

Sorry for the off-topic, but i'm sick and tired of that picture and the false myth around it.
 
bebo said:
I remember Messi at 18 vs Chels , now at 22... Oh Dear :COAT:
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Messi is 24, 25 in June. You scared me there for a second at the thought of a 22 year old breaking all these records. 24 is still amazing though! :SMUG:
 
gerd said:
That was a brilliant action from Messi.

Look i will apologize beforehand, but everytime Maradonna-Belgium is mentioned i feel a litle bit revolted. This was just a picture in a match that Argentina lost, where Maradonna had no impact at all...this has become an iconic picture. But this proves that legend are sometimes completely wrong. This was the opening match of the 1982 WC in Spain. Belgium won that match with 1-0 and Maradonna scarcely had any impact at all in that WC. In fact in the second group stage (a group with Brazil, Argentina and Italy) he even got sent off...

4 years later in Mexico, Argentina played Belgium once again, this time in the semi-finals and then Maradonna truly beat Belgium all by himself. But the picture is not from that match.

How do i know? Because on the famous picture you can see CB Maurice Deschryver and he only played once for our national team...in that particular match (he played because the first choice libero Walter Meeuws was banned for a red card).

Sorry for the off-topic, but i'm sick and tired of that picture and the false myth around it.
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And don't forget that I was in the stadium watching it with my father!!!!

Probably I may be the only one who have seen all the shit matches of Diego in the 80s.. How lucky am I? :PIG:
 
They've had two, Ibra and then Villa and both have been shunted out wide because Messi wants to play in the centre.

If they buy Neymar or someone else then they'll still be on the wing because of Messi.
 
It's got nothing to do with being outwide Matherto, they miss Villa badly at the minute, he would have gobbled up the chances Tello had. Messi's goal scoring record is phenomenal but at the same time shows this year they've been extra reliant on him.
 
Can you imagine? :P

Rather than juggling the ball and showing off his skills at the signing, he can just down a pint and go looking for a fight down Las Ramblas.
 
Jamezinho said:
Grant Holt?
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:D

look, i don´t think Barca realy need´s a quality player as they all are quality...but this time i feel they simply don´t have plan B, especially not in attack chainging tactics... they create lot´s of chances for scoring on ground, in the air, especially against Chelsea they had no chance to compete against Chelsea´s power...

take the set pieces, Chelsea has 5-6 tall players who know to score with head, Barca got none except Pique..

i think they need to switch to a different game if one is not working out...they have no player as Ibrahimovic was to play as a CF...the others they have are to young or injured..
 
jonneymendoza said:
messi > maradona
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I hope you're not serious. That'll never happen for me until he plays for a team that's on the same level as Maradona's Napoli and win things. That team was shocking Northern teams one by one and won titles. Also on international level he's still not as good as well.
 
Lami said:
I hope you're not serious. That'll never happen for me until he plays for a team that's on the same level as Maradona's Napoli and win things. That team was shocking Northern teams one by one and won titles. Also on international level he's still not as good as well.
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Let's dispel some myths.

Messi is not as good as Diego granted. But then again Diego is the player of the century. However his best known triumphs in 1986 and in Napoli were not acheived with a bunch of pub footballers.

That Argentine side in 1986 had players who had beaten the best in Europe already on a club level. His Napoli side had some useful players albeit later on like Careca and Ferrara.

Nonetheless Diego was the special ingredient in both sides.

Messi is the same. People trot this rubbish out that without Barcelona he would be greatly diminished. The truth is without Messi Barca would be diminished.

And as for his international record it's still not bad despite having some absolute clowns who would be lucky to coach a non league side in charge.

Now that Sabella has taken over I've certainly seen Messi's level increase as in the last competitive game against Colombia.

However for Barca and Argentina when the opposition souble and often triple mark the player and other players around him fail to perform then he will struggle.

After all football is a team game no matter the era.

Diego still has the edge though in his passing and set piece ability and sheer audacity and like a great military general the ability to bolster the morale of his troops. Messi as yet does not appear to be able too.

That he cares deeply about club and country is evidenced in the tears shed after defeats and exits.

Leo is in the top ten of Argentine players but he has still some way to go.

Fingers crossed for Tuesday.
 
ALBICELESTE2010 said:
Let's dispel some myths.

Messi is not as good as Diego granted. But then again Diego is the player of the century. However his best known triumphs in 1986 and in Napoli were not acheived with a bunch of pub footballers.

That Argentine side in 1986 had players who had beaten the best in Europe already on a club level. His Napoli side had some useful players albeit later on like Careca and Ferrara.

Nonetheless Diego was the special ingredient in both sides.
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I've never said the players around Diego in Napoli were amateurs, but compared to the ones around Messi in Barca? Different levels there.

Also, from what I can remember, Diego stepped onto the stage at the age of 15, playing for Argentinos Juniors with a huge impression. He also scored tons of goals for them being their main man at that very young age. Compare that to Messi's starting his football life in Barca, with players like Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o, etc around.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not implying Messi isn't all that great, but when compared to Diego, he doesn't fill his boots, yet.

And yes, Diego is much, much more inspiring and motivational than Lionel.

On a slightly different note, Diego might not have been the best manager/coach for Argentina, but I would've loved it if he stayed there for motivational speech and spirit, and leave the managing to someone who's better at it.
 
Messi is a legend as far as I am concerned. Hate comparing players as its a meaningless exercise. In maradonas day players could slide and body check you even the ball was a heavier etc, etc, etc.

Pointless to say one is better than the other imo
 
lol only thing people would know about that guy is that he was reaching legendary status after a few years in master league in pes 5&6 :)
 
PIPA23 said:
:D

they simply don´t have plan B
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with Guardiola there's no plan B .. he's poor tactically and all these 3 years with Barça is due to players performance ..

let's face it, only experts in football have back up plans ..

PS: Barça fans, please don't be harsh on me ! :D
 
That's a load of bollocks though. He's experimented with 3-4-3, 3-3-4, pushed Alves high on the right wing, played Sanchez across the front, Busquets as a CB/DM in the last Clasico etc.

Pep's always tinkered around to make sure they have other options available and they don't end up predictable. One poor showing in a Clasico doesn't change that.
 
I suppose the drugs didn't work jihado?

And now seriously: it was not the coach but the players. The players seem out of form. On top of that Barcelona's fantastic first team was some sort of handicap in disguise. Their squad is decidedly poorer than Madrid's (and that might be an error of Pep, but we will never know that). Mourinho can rotate easier than Guardiola. Barcelona clearly miss both Villa and (even more) Abidal. For such a huge club, that is a mistake. Look at the amount of injuries Man Utd have had (perhaps in a weaker league, perhaps...) and still they are in the title race (perhaps not the best moment to write this).
 
In my oppinion, it was Pep's mistake. I would have put Alexis in front from start.

The problem was bigger when due to an error we were 1-0 down, and just when we drawed, they scored the 1-2 in the first shoot they did since they had socred the 1-0. In my oppinion, it was a mix of low form of key players (maybe the drugs are doing side effects to Messi, Xavi and Iniesta after all), bad tactics in the first half and bad luck.

After all, Madrid didn't do a thing for 45 minutes and we missed agian the key chances of the match (Xavi, Tello and Iniesta).

PS: Even though I think Pep didn't chose well this time, saying he's a bad coach is foolish. As I've said many times, the very same players had finished 18 points below Madrid when he took the reigns.
 
Doesn't Barcelona rely too much on the same 11-14 players who are almost all brilliant?
Barcelona could use some very good back-ups, but who wants to be a back-up to players like Pique, Iniesta, Xavi, Messi and Villa?
Take the example of Ibrahim Affelay. IMO he has everything to become a fantastic player, only he made the mistake to go to Barcelona too young (and he had a serious injury)...a player like Hazard would be foolish to go to Barcelona now....

The fact that Madrid had a couple of poor seasons and thus not a typical first eleven team was an advantage because new players like Ozil had the impression that they would become key players, despite having Kaka in the squad. Ozil would never have gone to Barcelona (and i use Ozil only as an example).

Barcelona are victim of their own success
 
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