Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
not saying Ronaldo has been great for Portugal, he hasn't
but Ronaldo has been good at multiple places, with lesser players around him than Messi has
Messi has done it in one place, with the best spanish midfielder ever and possibly one of the best midfields of all time
and Argentina has more talent than Portugal do as well
|
I agree with you here.
It is indeniable that Messi is one of the best players in the world and is a star but I am hesitant to put him up there with the best ever until he proves that he can be successful away from Barca. To me the comparisions to Pele, Maradona, hell even Zidane are premature.
With Xavi, Iniesta, and the rest of Barca's midfield feeding Messi the ball, Messi has not yet had to be the lone focal point of the team. To me it is very telling that many people state that Xavi is the key to Barca's success and it is him you have to stop to defeat Barca.
To me if it is debatable that you are not even the most important player on your team I cannot rate you among the best players ever.
Internationally it is not like Messi is playing on one of the lesser football nations and has to carry his team by himself. He has Tevez, Aguero, Di Maria, Pastore, Mascherano, Gago, etc. to help him out. However he is missing the Xavi like midfield orchestrator on the National team and that appears to have hurt his effectiveness.
Messi: 119 goals in 177 appearance for Barca ( 0.66 goals/appearance)
17 goals in 57 games for Argentina (0.30 goals/appearance)
I know goals are harder to come by in International football, and it is not the best way to judge a players effectiveness but a 0.36 goal/appearance drop off is pretty dramatic.
Just to compare, and it is a neat statistic, when David Villa is the main strike target for Xavi and Iniesta on the Spanish National team his goal per appearance ratio is 0.63 goals/appearance which is very similar to the ratio that Messi puts up for Barca.
I want to clarify that I think Messi is a great talent and one of the best in the world but I think that he gets too much credit for Barca's success (Xavi and Iniesta are the real orchestrator and conductor of that team) and should not yet be compared to Maradona, Zidane, Pele, etc as the best ever.