Lionel Messi - Vastly Overrated.

[EastStandBlue]

I don't know about anybody else, but the biggest disappointment of this years Champions League has been Lionel Messi's complete anonymity in both games against Chelsea.

I've watched Barcelona about 15 times this season, and Argentina a handful of times. I watched Messi cause havoc on Saturday against Real Madrid, but in both fixtures against Chelsea he was nowhere near the calibre his hype would suggest.

I've long been a critic of continental football. I think players go down too easy, wingers and forwards are given far too much time and it breeds complacency. Tonight confirmed it for me, Lionel Messi is not at the level Cristiano Ronaldo is.

People hark on about this boy like he's Jesus Christ with a pair of Nikes on, and when he's playing lesser opposition who give him the time and space he needs he certainly produces miracles... But everytime I've seen him come up against capable defences, he's been strangled out of the game.

I'm glad it's a United/Barcelona final... Once and for all we can see who can step up to the plate and prove just who is the footballing heavyweight of this generation. I will be bery surprised if Messi comes out on top.

 

[Blueshrimper]

Always thought people overrate foreign players too much on the basis of not seeing them play regularly. Imagine if Ronaldo was playing in Spain in the form he has been the last few years and hadn't played in England yet. I remember seeing Messi last Champions league against United and he seems to be missing an end product at times. He looks great running past players and sometimes it looks as if the ball is glued to he's feet, but all the times I saw him he never put in a good cross or a good shot.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Always thought he was overrated. Same with Kaka.

I dont watch alot of Spanish or Italian football so I dont see them week in week out. Like I see Ronaldo. You may not like the way he dives around but imo Ronaldo is the best striker of a football in the world atm and Messi and Kaka dont come close from what I've seen of them.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I've always thought that the best players become truely great when they succeed in the best environments, which at this moment in time is undoubtedly the English Premier League.


When Messi tears a top level English defence to pieces like Ronaldo did last night, I'll accept he's in the top echelon of the worlds greats. Until then, he'll have to be happy alongside the likes of Frank Lampard as just "Great".

 

[Pubey]

Messi absolutely destroyed Real Madrid at the weekend (but then Liverpool also did this too!), that was a big game by anyone's standards

The kid is a prodigy, and is only 21... in a few years he'll be dominating big games like Ronaldo has done in the past few years.

The crazy thing about La Liga is that the opponents just drop off them and let Iniesta/Xavi/Messi carve them open. Chelsea got into them and suffocated them and they were never able to really threaten in the box. Barcelona play one way (a bit like Arsenal) and when it doesn't click it can make good players look very quiet.

 

[EastStandBlue]

He did destroy Real at the weekend, but their defending was so comical at times I think Blackburn could've given them a good seeing to... There's no denying he's a fantastic player, but the hype he recieves is ridiculous.

 

[chapperzUK]

TBH you have to watch them week-in week-out to actually comment. He has been sensational this season for Barcelona and I was also dissappointed that he wasn't on top form. Kaka is a sensational player and may not look amazing but he makes the hard this look so easy that it looks like he is doing nothing special.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I don't know whether Messi can walk on water, but he glides across grass.

I didn't watch the Champions (sic) League semi-finals so can't comment on that, but Barca are on Sky a fair bit and they are the one club team I don't immediately flick over when they are on. Messi is a huge part of that, along with the likes of the criminally underrated Iniesta (my favourite player in world football at the moment) and the youngster Bojan when he plays. They make football look ridiculously easy.

Ronaldo doesn't produce on the big stage - he was in Steve Hammell's pocket FFS!