ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

It was Paulino Alcántara with 357 goals in 357 appearances.

215 goals in friendlies.

114/199 goal .57 goals per game.

129/517 .24 goals per game.

gerrard don't play that deep- a good lot of those goals have been while the team is set up around stevie me as second striker, in fact.

so Messi may well be third by end of the season aged 22 (fourth after Paulino Alcántara) - that is pretty bloody impressive

you'd certainly fancy him to be in 5th anyway.

600 x .57 goals per game is 342 goals for barcelona.

No, because if you include Alcántara and therefore friendlies a few other guys move up the table.

xpost

i've scored hundreds of goals in friendlies ffs

ok you're on the list Darragh 'King' Mac

they were for barca 'b' tho :(

Messi not much better than Fowler's goals-per-game but he's 22 years old... and a winger.

How come this guy played so many friendlies anyway?

the war? at a guess.

1911-1927

most games played in the catalunya league- not officially recognised maybe?

lol english managers- read his wiki page.

Not sure Robbie Fowler ever took more than a couple of touches before scoring, either.

yeah but that was his MO- took goalie by surprise with early strike. fowler was superawesome from 94-97 iirc.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/27/lionel-messi-argentina

diego 'wanker' maradona

Who do they think he is, Owen Hargreaves?

to be fair to the Argentinians i don't think i've seen Messi do anything for the national team.

yeah he never scores beautiful important goals for argentina oh wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IcOd8gdImg

obviously he still scores occasionally but i've seen him be totally anonymous a good few times.

Yeah kids do that, I think Maradona had one good game at the 1982 WC, aged 22. He wasn't anonymous though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefHf4Z2lnY

showing the speed of thought to go Souness two seconds after a high-foot incident

to go Souness

brilliantly phrased

According to Brazil's physical preparation specialists, at the time of that great Dutch side, players were running 5,000 metres per game. By the mid 90s this had doubled, and now some players are covering 13,000.

For all the talk of whether Messi can be considered one of the true greats, why is there never talk of whether pre-Cryuff players can? It must have been piss easy for Pele to play against defenders who never did anything. I mean louisAlan Hanson can talk about how 'easy' it is to play defences but would the current shiiiiite Burnley side whip the Brazil of the sixties because of phyiscal training alone?

(I'm not saying they would, or that the 60s Brazil weren't talented... it is just such a distance jump that for a player like Messi or Zidane to have such physical and technical ability as well as stamina and increased tactical ability to work so well when being tracked harder that they are technically doing double the work every match to say Garrincha or Eusebio...)

If those talented players of yesteryear had today's diet and training regimes wouldn't they still stand out?

60s Brazil were the first to take a scientific approach to diet & training & all that, so they might've been able to compete, but I reckon they'd've been ripped apart on tactical sophistication. As would Burnley to be fair. The Ajax and Holland Cruyff sides were the first properly modern sides I think.

imo there's no merit at all in comparing different eras of the sport.

but cf peter schmeichel pissing off bobby charlton with a 'we'd beat them 10-0' comment in ?1997? for further analysis.

john giles, as always, has the final word on the matter:

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/bob.dunning/giles2.jpg

"You can only beat the team out in front of you, Bill"

imo there's no merit at all in qualitatively comparing different eras of the sport.

fixed for otm

well yeah fair enough.

seriously

maxwell slim hopes?

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0g1f89L2hf1bV/x610.jpg

Ossie Ardiles on BBC Radio 5 live: "For Lionel Messi, the World Cup coming up is so, so, so important. He says he would give up all his medals for a World Cup medal and this World Cup could be how he is remembered."

not the 14, 18 or 22 world cups ossie? why does e'erything have to be THING THAT HAPPENS RITE NOW? although i guess he may have lost his pace at 34 in the aussie heat.

itt leo king messi

but if bendtner could have put one or two away.....

arsenal were good out there tonight.

yeah we were alright but really whoever the opposition were didn't matter

yeah that's true

diaby though! he was pretty great. is he an attacking midfielder?

Leo "The Little Fella (© Andy Gray)" Messi

not reading thread but can we lock it please

also itt: karma

lol butthurt

From Pete, London, via text to 81111: "I seem to remember Steven Pienaar scoring a very similar goal to Messi's third also against Arsenal. Don't remember the hype."

dude in f365 mailbox reckons the ref was a major factor- i thought he was excellent tbh- arsenal's goal for a start, and although denilson's booking was a bad call i can't remember a better 90 mins form an official in a game this big.

well it was a bit lol europeans and their diving but yeah it was fine.

even usa ESPN is losing its shit over this 4 goal game from tonight/last night w/e

dude in f365 mailbox reckons the ref was a major factor- i thought he was excellent tbh- arsenal's goal for a start, and although denilson's booking was a bad call i can't remember a better 90 mins form an official in a game this big.

― Jesse James Woods (darraghmac), Tuesday, 6 April 2010 21:56 (Yesterday) Permalink

Yeah that's crazy talk, what decisions he did get wrong went against Arsenal iirc but they were miniscule. That said I don't think you have to be some sort of mecha-Hansen type figure to suggest that all of Barca's goals were preventable wrt positioning/not clearing the damn ball (maybe this has been said in reports, haven't read)

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/04Ir4FQ82q0t9/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05JT80o3jvcSX/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/09UedYRcfA9Lp/x610.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02Cg32Ff3z6ew/610x.jpg

Favorite unintentionally homoerotic sports imagery

this guys house is gonna have to get an extension from all the match balls he taking home