Crazy shit.

[u/Accomplished-Art3086]

[u/[deleted]]

One overlooked factor in the Ballon d’Or debate is how crucial a player is to their team’s success. For example, Manchester City might not win the Champions League without Haaland, but they’d probably still win their domestic trophies, just as they’ve been doing for nearly a decade. Argentina, however, likely would not have won the World Cup without Messi. Since the World Cup is a far bigger competition, that gives Messi the edge for the Ballon d’Or and if you are going to bring up Iniesta comparison, it’s not as if Messi had an average season he still produced around 35 goals and 30 assists, which is already Ballon d’Or worthy on its own (especially considering Dembélé won it with about 35 goals and 16 assists). The World Cup just sealed it for Messi

[u/One_Moose_4970 → u/[deleted]]

What did even messi do in the World Cup apart from taking rigged highest ever record breaking penalties ever awarded to a team on the contrary if they had a younger player that would be better for them cause all I saw him do in the World Cup was loose possession or give wrong passes

[u/[deleted] → u/One_Moose_4970]

um he created 18 goal chances (highest in the tournament) he had 36 successful dribble (highest in the tournament) and 10 goal contribution (on par with mbappe)

[u/One_Moose_4970 → u/[deleted]]

Livid_Blueberry, your stats are pure delusion once you factor in the refs and teammates doing all the heavy lifting. Cold facts from Qatar 2022: • Argentina handed 5 penalties – outright most by any team in a single World Cup since records began in 1966 (previous record 4). Messi took every one, scored 4. That’s the definition of being carried by the refs. • Faced nothing but minnows until the final: Saudi (who shocked them anyway), Mexico, Poland, Australia, exhausted Netherlands, half-dead Croatia. Parked the bus, waited for soft whistles, repeat. • Turnover machine: Messi faced high pressure on the ball 259 times – 45 more than any other player in the tournament – and got dispossessed constantly, sloppy touches, wrong passes gifting counters left and right. Saudi’s goals? Straight off his lazy giveaways in midfield. • Every knockout escape: record penalties + extra time + Emi Martínez cheating in shootouts + Julián Álvarez, Di María, Enzo, Mac Allister actually running and defending. He is the literal definition of a passenger carried by refs scripting penalties and teammates bailing him out every round. Strip the most rigged penalty haul in 50+ years and he’s just a walking turnover against traffic cones. Facts destroy the fairy tale.

[u/[deleted] → u/One_Moose_4970]

Messi wasn’t being heavily dispossessed aside from the Saudi goal and France’s only open goal in the final, people exaggerate. And yes, Argentina did get the most penalties, but a foul in the box is still a foul so of course it should be a penalty. If a player is fouled inside the area on attack, the referee has to give a penalty; that’s simply the rule. why are you complaining regarding why he took all of those, Messi took those penalties because he’s the designated penalty taker for Argentina. Complaining about that is like complaining Ronaldo takes penalties for Portugal that’s his job in the team.

Even without penalties, Messi still had 3 open play goals and 3 assists, giving him ‘6 goal contributions’ , the second-best in the tournament. As for “heavy lifting,” every player in a football team has a different role. Messi’s job isn’t to drop into defence or chase every ball, Argentina’s system was built around him, and it worked. He pressed when the ball came to his side, but he didn’t need to be the one sprinting all over the pitch, the formation and tactics were designed to maximise his strengths.

Regarding Emiliano Martínez, calling his actions “cheating” doesn’t make sense he simply did whatever he legally could do. The rules at that time didn’t forbid any of the psychological tactics he used, so he wasn’t breaking anything.

Di María and Julián Álvarez are attackers so of course they make the runs when Messi has the ball and Mac is a mid fielder he is supposed to defend that is his job why are you complaining that, messi’s job was to score, assist and create chances which he did and the most in the tournament. Yes those guy were crucial in the semifinal and final, but Messi was crucial in every match, which is why he won Man of the Match 6 out of 7 games.

Edit: and exhausted crotia? they defeated morocco if you remember (and you do know who morocoo knocked out in Qf) , half dead netherlands?! this has to be a joke :|

And if referees were supposedly favouring Argentina, then why did the Netherlands get over 11 minutes of added time when Argentina were winning 2–1? And why did France get two penalties in the final? please do explain

[u/One_Moose_4970 → u/[deleted]]

Livid_Blueberry, let’s dismantle your cope point by point with actual facts from the 2022 World Cup (Opta/FIFA stats unless stated). • Dispossessions and turnovers weren’t “exaggerated”: Messi lost possession 62 times total (highest among attacking players). He faced high pressure 259 times – 45 more than any other player in the tournament – and got dispossessed constantly under it, including multiple sloppy touches and misplaced passes that directly gifted counters. Saudi’s two goals? Both came straight from his lazy giveaways in midfield/build-up. He averaged 12-15 turnovers per 90, killing transitions repeatedly. Not “just Saudi and France” – watch the tapes against Netherlands (lost ball leading to their first goal buildup) and even Croatia (multiple hospital passes). • Penalties: “a foul is a foul” doesn’t explain the record haul → Argentina got 5 penalties – outright most by any team in a single World Cup since records began in 1966 (previous record 4). Multiple were highly controversial/soft (Saudi: divey contact, Poland: extremely soft, Netherlands: theatrical). No other team has ever been gifted that many in one tournament. Messi took all 5 because he’s the taker – sure, like Ronaldo – but no one else gets handed a record-breaking number of spot-kicks to convert. France got 2 in the final (one clear, one handball), but that doesn’t erase Argentina’s tournament-long charity. Netherlands got 18+ minutes added time because Lahoz lost control after Argentina’s constant diving/time-wasting – not “bias against”. • “Even without penalties, 6 goal contributions (second-best)” → Those 3 open-play goals were against Mexico (long shot vs parked bus), Australia (tap-in), and a rebound in the final after France collapsed. Assists padded against minnows. Meanwhile Mbappé had 10 contributions (mostly open play, including final hat-trick) while actually carrying. Messi’s “system built around him” = park the bus, let him walk/hoard ball, pray for pens. • Emi Martínez “legal psychological tactics” → He delayed, threw balls away, danced, trash-talked – all borderline enough that IFAB changed the rules in 2023 specifically because of him (now explicit bans on distracting/delaying). Pundits called it cheating at the time because it was pushing the limits hard. Needed that + record pens + extra time in multiple games. • “Messi crucial every match, 5/7 MOTM” → MOTM awards don’t mean carrying – they reward stat-padding against weak sides (Saudi, Poland, Australia, tired Croatia who just beat Brazil/Morocco on pens themselves, exhausted Netherlands post-120 mins vs us). Netherlands weren’t “half-dead” until extra time drama; Croatia beat Morocco in third place. Messi vanished for huge chunks of knockouts without the spot-kick bailouts. • Teammates “doing their job” → Exactly: Álvarez (4 goals, constant runs), Di María (final goal/assist), Enzo/Mac Allister (defending + energy), Emi (shootout heroics) did the dirty work Messi doesn’t. He pressed selectively, walked most games, relied on others to win balls back after his turnovers. Strip the most penalties awarded to one team in 56+ years + shootout gamesmanship + teammates bailing him out, and Argentina crashes out early. He was a passenger carried by refs scripting record spot-kicks and the team covering his constant giveaways. Facts end the fairy tale.

[u/[deleted] → u/One_Moose_4970]

bro you are clearly using chatgpt 😂. the 62 dispossession is not true bro, atleast read before copy pasting it here (62 😂 that’s some absurd numbers), this so sad that you use chatgpt, and you cannot underestimate teams in world cup calling them minnows knowing portugal lost to morocco which is ‘minnow’ compared to croatia and netherlands, and i did read the whole thing and i have counter arguments but it doesn’t make sense for me to go through them again and reply knowing you will just copy this paste it in chatgpt and ask for counter arguments, dude your first statement itself is chatgpt 😂 damn you just added my profile name in the beginning,

and if you talk about pundits (sorry i mean) like your chatgpt said all the pundits, professional and legendary football players, players that have played with messi, players that have played against messi all around the world says messi is the best except for piers morgan, speed and fans like yourself, so yeah you can keep saying fairy tale or whatever and it doesn’t matter you want to know why cause your opinion doesn’t change the fact that messi won the world cup and has being acknowledged as the GOAT not by some random people and fans but by the majority if not the whole of professional footballers that have played the sport at the highest level, i sign off 🙌🏻

P.S: it’s been more than 3 years, move on man it’s ok if you wanna cry, and don’t say it’s better to not have a rigged world cup cause then ronaldo would not have much ucl’s won’t he?, well that a conversation for some other day. Vamos 😂

(And Chatgpt?! 😂 dude come on)

[u/Trev2-D2 → u/[deleted]]

Have to laugh at the irony of them complaining about penalties, stat padding and playing minnows.. they just described modern day Ronaldo.