I agree that Messi needs to up his game at World Cups and things but I disagree with the theory that he NEEDS to win a World Cup to be up there with Pele and Maradona. Messi is the best in the world and probably the best ever imo
I dont think so. You need experience to play xavis role I expect. However you could be partially right. Although xavi is such a special player that I doubt they will make anyone as good. I mean look at cesc. Top player. But not a super human like xavi. He will give the ball away alot when playing difficult passes like any normal player bar xavi.
Thiago is a similar mould, Fabregas will probably be the immediate replacement by dropping deeper when Xavi goes into decline but to be honest I can see Xavi doing a Giggs and being around for a lot longer!
Xavi will either retire in 2014 or 2016. Nobody knows for sure though. I guess it depends. He might feel, like zidane, that he has achieved everything and its better for his legacy to go earlier and be remembered as a god.
On the question of to be a great you have to have done it at International level, I say that might have been true when the World Cup was the top football competition, but unfortunately for about the last 20 years it's been the showcase of all that's bad about football. No more than half a dozen memeorable games. Comapre that to how open and attractive Champions League has been during the same era. So I would say, the World Cup is more about being able to out defend and out-psych the opponents than about pure skill and excitement. Put another way, when at home we're watching a particularly dull game (rare) we tend to remark "its like wartching a World CUp match". On the basis that the Champions League is the pinnacle (until the Olympics start and teh BBC tell us Ryan Giigs is now officially the best player ever cos he scored at the Olympics) I think Messi has proven to be amongst the best.
Drogs - he doesn't need to win a World Cup to be the greatest, he just needs to perform at a couple of World Cups to be on that level with Pele and Maradona. I don't quite have him on Zidane and Ronaldo's level yet either because they DID do it at World Cups. When Xavi retires Fabregas is the perfect replacement.
Why is there always the odd post from jealous fans trying to belittle just how good barcelona are. They are the greatest team ever and messi is the greatest player ever full stop. No other team comes close to them and people just need to accept that rather than coming up with bs excuses, and the barcelona team that played us in the 2006 final is vastly different to the current team. Appreciate the quality of their play rather than blaming the referee for their success.
To me the "greatest ever" is dependant on your age.If you've only seen Messi play you may well say he is the greatest ever footballer.If people are older they may well say Maradonna.
Messi is the greatest ever. as with all these players he's not fully appreciated while he's still playing.
The thing I really like about Messi is he doesn't roll around on the floor or beg for people to be sent off like the rest of the Barca squad. He seems to geniunely love playing and always seems to have a smile on his face. His goals last night were, to quote a spelling which took me a while to work out how to pronounce:
The 'World Cup' critizism is stupid for two key reasons. 1. The Champions league is simply a better competition than the World Cup. The top club teams are superior to the top international teams. 2. Argentina are rich in talent but in recent years have been managed by two of the biggest morons in world football. Maradona is one of the worst coaches i've ever seen. Messi has already achieved more in his club career than Ronaldo, Maradonna, Pele and Zidane and is still 2-3 years away from reaching his peak. He could go on and play at the top level for another 10 years - god knows how many goals he will score in his career and unlike Pele they will be in a top league against top players. At an average of 1.14 goals per game over the last two seasons, Messi has 228 goals and 94 assists in 311 appearances for Barcelona.
When PELE was playing none of the Brazilians played in Europe so i think it would be fair to say the Brazilian leagues would have been on a par with any European league
He didn't, he played over a thousand games for Santos. He spent most of his career and certainly his best days in Brazil.
Messi is already a great but to be called the greatest is a touch subjective. There has been great players during the ages and will be more great players in the future. When people think of the greatest Brazilian player in history, Pele comes to mind. But Brazilians and football experts regard Garrincha as being better and more talented. What does that tell you..... As for Messi doing it international, i believe he will, it's just the matter of Argentina getting a coach competent enough to get the players to gel together. Lets face it, Argentina have some of the best players in the world. Just imagine if they played a 4-3-3 formation, their front three would be the best by some margin! Tevez-----Aguero-----Messi They still have Higuan on the bench!
