[Archived] Champions League

[philipl]

Messi has now scored four hat-tricks in 2010.

courtesy BBC

A bit like Shearer only better.

[chaddyrovers]

MESSI is world class. He's only 22 years old and not at his peak yet. AWESOME!!!!!

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Much like Henry after his deliberate hand ball I have no time for Messi the man. He's a decent footballer though.

The worst dive this season, this year, this decade has come from our very own Morten Gamst Pedersen. Players are diving because it works, i judge the referee more than them. Arsenal shouldnt be making it easy for the Barca players to dive, they'll all do it given the opportunity. Just enjoy the football.

Messi is twice the player Rooney is.

[Eddie]

He's very, very, very good and will most likely be one of the best players I will ever watch, but people can stop creaming themselves.

One one-on-one with 40 yards to run at the keeper (nice chip to finish it, but every player should score it), one finish from about 10 yards out with all the time in the world and then one nice hit from outside of the box.

Great player, done well to score them and get in the positions, but not like we've just watched the best 45 minutes ever. Sometimes hate when everything a player does gets turned into a piece of genius. Happened with Ronaldinho, happened with Ronaldo.

[bellamy11]

Eddie, would you still rather have Paul Ince than Lionel Messi?

[Eddie]

I'd take Andrews over Messi...I know that much. Messi hasn't mastered the point.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

4 hat tricks this year, 34 goals so far this season. He dribbles past players easier then anyone else in the game, possibly ever. Check out his goal against Getafe, nobody, nobody else could have scored that. His goals tonight, i agree arent outstanding but they are still clinically finished. The first and third were finished brilliantly.

[Eddie]

As I said, he's fantastic, I'm not arguing with that; just praise him when he does something fantastic though, not when he just finishes past a keeper.

[RovertheHill]

4 hat tricks this year, 34 goals so far this season. He dribbles past players easier then anyone else in the game, possibly ever. Check out his goal against Getafe, nobody, nobody else could have scored that. His goals tonight, i agree arent outstanding but they are still clinically finished. The first and third were finished brilliantly.

Doesn't that mean he's scored more goals this season than Rovers

[Exiled_Rover]

In our defence, we're ######.

[CrazyIvan]

In our defence, we're ######.

In our defence, we don't have a half-decent striker atm. Kalinic is for the future...

[Eddie]

Doesn't that mean he's scored more goals this season than Rovers

We've scored 35 league goals, although to be fair if you include our cup goals as well we'd be miles ahead of him!

More cheating from Barcelona. Absolutely hate them. I hate Arsenal slightly less...please let the bigger cheaters lose.

[roversandy]

barcelona wouldnt be half the side without messi, a bit like argentina without maradonna, then again messi suits barcelona better than he does argentina because barcelona have much better players than the argies, go figure.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

We've scored 35 league goals, although to be fair if you include our cup goals as well we'd be miles ahead of him!

More cheating from Barcelona. Absolutely hate them. I hate Arsenal slightly less...please let the bigger cheaters lose.

Messi's scored 38 actually.

If you hate Barcelona then you must equally hate every continental club side. You must hate Pedersen for his shocking dive at the Emirates, you must hate virtually every player in this top flight division. Dont get overly moral about this. Everyone dives to con the ref, its the culture of the game, it is a shame to see great players doing it but it happens.

Barca play the best football in Europe, just enjoy it. If you choose to focus entirely on diving then fine but you're missing out on some great football.

[Eddie]

Now that was a great goal.

[jim mk2]

Now that was a great goal.

Exaggeration. It was a good goal, nothing special.

[Eddie]

To have that tight of a touch and calmness with three defenders right around you in the box is special. We won't see Jason Roberts doing it anytime soon. Spoiled by the fact that he needed a second chance to finish it.

"one of the greatest individual performances you will ever see" - SKY...don't think so.

[Balwer]

Only his fourth goal was anything particularly special, although the touch on his third was pretty impressive. He's the best player in the world, but he didn't dominate the game tonight, in spite of the fact that he scored all the goals. That may seem like a contradictory statement but it isn't. I love watching him play but he benefitted from some good support play tonight.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Dont know why its suddenly so fashionable to discredit Messi this evening. Rooney couldnt have done what Messi did tonight, he may have scored a couple but not all four. To have finished all of those goals was very very special. He rifled one into the top corner, played a cracking pass to Abidal which he would later collect and finish easily with a tap in, scored with a delightful chip and then dribbled through 3/4 defenders before drilling one through Almunia. Brilliant.

[jim mk2]

To have that tight of a touch and calmness with three defenders right around you in the box is special. .

True, but it wasn't a special goal. It was a scruffy goal through the keeper's legs. The goal in which he lifted the ball over the keeper showed true class however.

Comparing him to Roberts is silly.

[Bobby G]

He is potentially the greatest of all time. Only 22 and already the best of this era by a mile. Ronaldo is second best and he is so far away from Messi's level and thats only cause this Argentine is from a different planet.

Whoever downplays this FACT is blatantly blind.

[Balwer]

Definitely the best I've ever seen but at 27 my memory isn't as extensive as some who would have seen Pele and Maradonna in their heyday.

[jim mk2]

He is potentially the greatest of all time. Only 22 and already the best of this era by a mile. Ronaldo is second best and he is so far away from Messi's level and thats only cause this Argentine is from a different planet.

Whoever downplays this FACT is blatantly blind.

Since when is your opinion "fact" ???

I have had the privilege of having seen the world's best players of the past 60 years and Messi is still way behind the likes of Pele, Maradona, Best, Eusebio, Di Stefano and Puskas to name six off the top of my head. Messi is very good but at this stage of his career, nothing more.

[MarkBRFC71]

Since when is your opinion "fact" ???

I have had the privilege of having seen the world's best players of the past 60 years and Messi is still way behind the likes of Pele, Maradona, Best, Eusebio, Di Stefano and Puskas to name six off the top of my head. Messi is very good but at this stage of his career, nothing more.

He is the best player in the world NOW, by a country mile. It's hard to compare him to players who played in different eras - the game has changed a lot in terms of the strength, speed and athleticism of players probably even in the last 10 years. Any of those players you mentioned might not have been able to cope with today's game, but in terms of their peers and the time in which they played, they were among the very best of their generation. Messi is THE outstanding player of his.

Still say Maradona is the best ever though.

[alexanders]

My dad is a huge Maradona and Argentine fan and even he wonders if messi is even better than Diego was.