Arsene Wenger: “Messi is the best player in the world by a large distance”.
Lionel Messi’s football against Arsenal was mesmerising. What he achieved in the high profile Champions League game against Arsenal underlines why so many are lauding the Argentine as one of the greats of all time, aged just 22!
Messi scored all four of Barcelona’s goals as they trounced Arsenal 4-1 and what a selection they were.
1. A left-footed rocket from 20 yards
2. A well placed side foot finish with his right foot
3. A run behind the'Â defence, finished with a cute lob over over Almunia
4. An intentional shot through the legs of the keeper
Lionel Messi’s performances this season, which for the record is only his fourth season as a first team regular, has confirmed his status as one of the best players of his generation. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and perhaps, at a pinch, Wayne Rooney can get close to the kind of form Lionel Messi is producing. But is he the greatest? Vote in the poll below.
The Rise of Lionel Messi
Early Years: His father, Jorge Horacio Messi, was a factory worker, and mother, Celia Maria Messi, a part-time cleaner. Messi has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and a sister, Maria Sol. Aged 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.
Unable to pay medical fee’s for his condition, Barcelona offered to cover the costs if he moved to Spain, which of course he did.
Career: Messi made his League d'©but for Barcelona against Espanyol when he was 17 years old. In the 2006/07 season, he became established as a first team player, scoring 14 times in 26 matches.
In 2006, Messi signed a contract to wear Adidas football boots. Having previously worn Nike football boots, the two brands went to court over the contact. Adidas were victorious and Messi has become the leading player in the Adidas camp. Lionel Messi wears the adidas F50i TUNiT football boots.
Messi was voted Fifa World Player of the Year in 2009, Messi has gone on to make 200 appearances for Barcelona. He scored his fourth hat-trick of the 2009/20 season against Arsenal in the Champions League. [poll=34]
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Not only is he the greatest current player, hes in the top 5 of all time.
1 Maradona
2 Pele
3 Messi
4 Van Basten
5 C Ronaldo
@Mo please when were you born, C.Ronaldo as the 5th greatest of all times, come on, I can name at least 10 players that were far beyond C. Ronaldo. Lets not forget that Roanldinho had two excellent years while playing for Barcelona.
But the subject here is Messi. Can you believe that many said when he was a little kid that we would never play the game in a pro level because he was to short. I compare those guys to the ones who didn’t want to invest in Larry Page and Sergey Bin search engine. Google anyone?
Everyone has got their own opinions as who is the best ever player, but right now Messi is on another level to anyone in the world. We are lucky to witness such quality.
yeh messi scored 4 hatricks in the 2009/2020 season. i think many players can score 4 hatricks in 11 seasons.
Messi is without a doubt the greatest of this generation. Ronaldo is spectacular, but Messi is a TRUE team player. He makes everyone else around him better. You could say the Michael Jordan of football, maybe?
@mo I’m surprised you didn’t say Ronaldo (brazil) would be one of the top players in the world.
Anyways, as much as I prefer Ronaldo’s playing style, I must say Messi is at a much better form and by far best player in the world right now. But, I can’t wait to see El Classico this weekend. Ronaldo will be sure to step up his game to make sure his name isn’t forgotten. Should make it even more exciting!
I highly respect the comments made here, however i cannot say Messi is close to legend status nor is Ronaldo. They are both great players with very different styles of play however Messi is currently the shining hero of this past 2 seasons, just like Ronaldo back in 06-08.
Remember this, a player can only be judged at the end of his career on merit, the league he played in, the period of that league he played in, and the team itself.
Although Messi managed to score 4 goals, it was nothing special in my books, 3/4 goals came from slack defending, it was honestly a seriously understrength arsenal, i believe that if you Arsenal were at their strongest Barca would have been eliminated tonight, FACT!
Who voted for Rooney? Seriously? Rooney only this year stepped out from under CRonaldo’s shadow, and that is because he left for Madrid. Rooney isn’t even the best striker in the Premiership, there is no way he is top 3 players in the world.
true ricardo
Are you serious? He is not the greatest of all time nor is he in the top 5 of the greatest either. Mo you created the dumbest post ive seen in my life. Messi on the same list as Pele? Maradona over Pele? I would take Klinsman, Ronaldo (Brazilian version), Van Nistelroy in their prime over Messi any day. And im not even getting into players of the past like Jairzinho or Cruyff, who are better than Messi. Arsenal didn’t have Fabgregas or Arshavin. Arsenal nor its coach for that matter had the drive or tactics to win this game. So seeing a 4-1 score isnt surprising. By all means im not saying hes a terrible player at all.HE is a very good player. But top 5 and the best of our generation? Come on! Messi will not be very good in the world cup due to the fact of their horrible coach. Yes I said it, Maradona is a terrible coach who will disgrace Argentine football, again. Did we forget that Argentina barely got in and barely beat PERU. Was Messi a different player back then? No of course not. He didnt magically become better. Maradona will fail to utilize Messi due to his rhetoric and constant fighting.
NEWS FLASH- Do you know for the past 3 years Portugal actually has a better record and play better when Ronaldo ISNT PLAYING!? HE has ZERO GOALS and ZERO assists during the world cup qualifying campaign. How is he captain? Give me Costa, Figo, Raul for my national team anyday over Ronaldo. Nani seems more productive for his National and Club team than Ronaldo. Portugal has bigger problems. Their coach and their talent pool. The Portuguese haven’t come to terms on who to select for their team and who is worthy to be Portuguese.
@ ricardo what a ridiculous comment, how about if barca had of been at their strongest? barca started without henry, ibra, pique, puyol. arsenal were lucky to still be in the tie come the second leg. how many other players have scored 4 goals in a champions league quarter final? how many players have scored 4 goals in the group stages against below standard opposition? yeah definitely wasn’t that special…
messi is rubbish. please call me when he actually does something for argentina.
@patricio
Klinsmann or van Nistelroy in the same sentence as Messi is a joke.
Neither of those players are close to being the footballer Messi is. Sure, they scored goals, both being out and out strikers they should do. Messi is more than that. He can score goals – 34 goals in 36 games this season. He creates goals and he can create something from nothing.
Klinsman or van Nistelroy would be over the moon to be thought about in the same company as Messi.
have you people seen the movie “Troy”?
well there’s a good quote at the end of the movie:
“If they ever tell my story, let them say… I walked with giants.
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat… but these names will never die.
Let them say, I lived in the time of Hector… tamer of horses.
Let them say… I lived in the time of Achilles.”
according to those quotes, sometimes i heard my father says “there was this game in the time of Pele…” 🙂
I am beginning to get sick of all the debate about who is the best player of all time because of the lack of respect for defenders and goalkeepers. Without players like Puyol, Pique, and Abidal, Barcelona would not be in contention for any of these titles. As far as best of all time goes it is a travesty not to include players like Maldini, Moore, Schmeichel, Yashin, Roberto Carlos, and Beckenbauer. These players were centerpieces of World Cup winning teams and certainly deserve to be included in the argument. If I were to be building a team I would much rather have Moore and Beckenbauer at the back instead of Messi and C. Ronaldo up top.
ok this is ridiculous. how are people comparing messi to legends when he is only 22!? he’s had a couple great years big whoop!! and MO you listed all strikers, have you heard of zico or maldini???? strikers are so overrated it drives me crazy!!
Lio wears F30’S we all know that.
Hector my good man you are insane. I have every right to mention Klinsman and van Nistelroy in the same sentence. Klinsman is the last epic German striker. Van Nistelroy was a beast at Man U and Real to have him not in the sentence is just blasphemy. I am so glad other people like Ben and Rob have posted several reality checks. Messi better than Zico, Franz and Maldini?
well guy, there is a lot of debate about messi, too much debate make me feel nauseas, so ???
well, we must feel happy, about the fact messi is only 22 Years old, and the best of him is coming… im hoping he continue growing like a footballer, and keep giving us goals like yesterday, yes to an “uncesc” arsenal, but the only player who can do that maybe is messi,
one week ago i would say cRonaldo is better to messi, but in the game VS arsenal, wow !!!
Yes Messi is fantastic, best player in the world now and if he keeps going and wins a world cup or two he could be the best of all time. But hes currently not in the top 5 greatest. Infact hes probably not even in the top ten. I can think of players such as
Pele
Maradona
Cruijff
Di Stefano
Beckenbauer
Van Basten
Seedorf
George Best
Zidane
Buffon
Maldini
Zico
Just a few that come to mine that have all done more than Messi has
i think that you cant really make a judgement about the greatest player EVER keyword ever the teams and style of play were completelty different i belive that in 20 years and talk about ronaldo, rooney, kaka, beckham, and messi as the greateswt players of this generation but ever nobdy wil ever truly kno
Garrincha.
No way Barca wud have beat arsenal 4-1 if arsenal had their 2 best players on the field (fabregas and van persie) i kno barca were missin players too but they had their two most influential players on the pitch messi and xavi and thats all they really needed against a weekend arsenal, if u go through the injury list u would c arsenal were worse off than Barca as arsenal were missing their BEST 4 playres fab, gallas, RVP, arshavin as well as the much improved song barca were missin puyol pique inesta and ibra which was a benefit because he makes the team play slower even if he did score twice in the first leg he missed so many easy opportunities that he could have easily had a hat trick so u can easily c how arsenal were hurt and plus the players arsenal were missing were all the players that help them keep possession and if they don’t have them they don’t have possession and if they don’t have possession the cant win, simple as that.
No way Barca wud have beat arsenal 4-1 if arsenal had their 2 best players on the field (fabregas and van persie) i kno barca were missin players too but they had their two most influential players on the pitch messi and xavi and thats all they really needed against a weekend arsenal, if u go through the injury list u would c arsenal were worse off than Barca as arsenal were missing their BEST 4 playres fab, gallas, RVP, arshavin as well as the much improved song barca were missin puyol pique inesta and ibra which was a benefit because he makes the team play slower even if he did score twice in the first leg he missed so many easy opportunities that he could have easily had a hat trick so u can easily c how arsenal were hurt and plus the players arsenal were missing were all the players that help them keep possession and if they don’t have them they don’t have possession and if they don’t have possession the cant win, simple as tht.
Messi is in a whole other league. Ronaldo isn’t even close and don’t make me laugh by naming rooney…
Rooney is a great player that scores goals but come on lol. Messi is a genius.
Who wouldnt want messi in their team?
MisterBroom, you sir, are a moron.
C. Ronaldo is a whining baby, and overrated at best,
Rooney is a great footballer, and by no means the best in the world.
But to say he was constantly under C. Ronaldo’s shadow is ignorance.
Completely different footballers.