Champions League 2009/2010

[Jebus]

Rooney for me is one of the top players in the world, there's only a few I'd rather have in my team, Messi is one of them.

Comparisons are made with Maradonna, rightly I feel, but goodness me the age of the boy...it's scary to think how good he could get still!

[abigsmurf]

There are some big examples of players that looked utterly amazing burning out at a young age. The Brazillian Ronaldo, peaked incredibly early and faded.

[fatbatch]

Messi seems to have a good attitude though - barring injury there should be a decade of brilliance to come.

For tonight, I hope Barcelona don't ease off like last week.

[EJG1980]

It's more often players from Brazil that fade after an amazing first half of their career. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano..

Funny how Gray is talking like Barca are a one man team now, especially after last week when he mentioned how quiet Messi had been. Stupid too when Barca put together amazing passing moves involving half the team, but it's all just Messi. Clearly he is the best in the world at the mo though, stunning display.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The Brazillian Ronaldo, peaked incredibly early and faded.

To be fair to the Brazillian Ronaldo, it was more a case of very serious knee injuries nearly putting paid to his career moreso than peaking early and fading. He scored, what, 40-odd goals in a stunning debut season at Inter, iirc?

Ronaldinho would be more fitting for your argument, surely? Incredible at Barcelona in the mid-2000s, before fading badly due to off-field excess and a hugely disappointing 2006 World Cup.

[abigsmurf]

It's possible they've turned down the mics but there is no atmosphere at this game.

[Sam The Man]

I am a Man UTD fan and obviously a huge lover of Wayne Rooney but i have to say after watching him this past month and now watching him tonight against a good Arsenal side who he has made look silly at times i have to hold my hands up and say not only is Lionel Messi the most exciting and in form player on the planet but one of the finest players i have ever watched.

[SharkSkin-Man]

To be fair to the Brazillian Ronaldo, it was more a case of very serious knee injuries nearly putting paid to his career moreso than peaking early and fading. He scored, what, 40-odd goals in a stunning debut season at Inter, iirc?

And even as a chubster with two dodgey knees he was still an excellent player, his goal scoring record at Real Madrid is 83 in 127 league games, which is world class.

[prinnysquad]

Chubster, lol.

I always laugh when I think of Messi. It dates back to Forza 2, when in the auction rooms I came across a really nice car with a super Barcelona decal on it. The badge was on, nicely done, and a load of player names plastered around.

Including that famous wonderkid:

Messy

[Jebus]

It's possible they've turned down the mics but there is no atmosphere at this game.

They turned the mics down, it was done just before kick-off and quite obvious when they did it.

Messi is the best in the world, his fourth was insanely good but the run he made before where he didn't score...if he had, it might have been one of the greatest goals of all time. I agree with Sam, I've seen an awful lot of players including Maradonna et al, but goodness me, Messi is truly something to behold.

I love watching Barca, always have to be honest, but they out-Arsenal'd Arsenal! They were immense and I can't see anyone else winning but them now.

[merf]

not sure the end result would have been different but would love to have seen a full strength Barca take on a full strength Arsenal.

my concern as a lover of the beautiful game is that a dour Mourinho inspired Inter could possess the tools to blunt Barca if they play like they did against Chelsea over 2 legs, I don't want to see pragmatic winners of the CL.

[samanosuke]

The Sky commentary is disgustingly biased...

Andy Gray, following his minute's silence after Messi had scored that chip, said "You might not like it if you're a British football fan". I really have a love/hate relationship with Andy Gray because although I do find him entertaining he is just so blatantly partisan towards promoting the Premiership. I'll bet it's in his Sky contract.

[Flabio]

Could be worse, could be Alan 'I hate everything that I didn't say' Green...

[saturn-gamer]

As if Barcelona is only Messi... Iniesta and Xavi belong to the best midfielders in the world, better than what United has there. The same can be said about Alves and Puyol on their positions. And what about Bojan, Pedro? Own youth players.

Its Valdes who is kind of average, but still manageable.

To be fair to the Brazillian Ronaldo, it was more a case of very serious knee injuries nearly putting paid to his career moreso than peaking early and fading. He scored, what, 40-odd goals in a stunning debut season at Inter, iirc?

Ronaldinho would be more fitting for your argument, surely? Incredible at Barcelona in the mid-2000s, before fading badly due to off-field excess and a hugely disappointing 2006 World Cup.

Difference between Messi and these 2 is that Messi isn't being surrounded by money hungry managers, and Messi doesn't act like a galactico. Fatboy Ronaldo was wasted in Italy after a first great season. The injury contributed to that, but he also started to lack discipline.

At Barcelona, he was absolutely brilliant. Maybe even better than Messi today.

Ronaldinho is being wasted by clubs and hookers

[EJG1980]

As if Barcelona is only Messi... Iniesta and Xavi belong to the best midfielders in the world, better than what United has there. The same can be said about Alves and Puyol on their positions. And what about Bojan, Pedro? Own youth players.

No way! The passes in their intricate twenty pass moves building up to a goal are all played from Messi, to Messi. At least that's the impression Andy Gray was giving yesterday in his commentary

Yeah, so, I agree with you Messi is a special, special player, but at one point Gray even said that Barca wouldn't be able to cope if Messi wasn't playing, which is rubbish. Take Messi out of the front three and replace him with Henry or Ibra (or any good forward) and you'd still have a team playing amazing football that was capable of winning all the top honours.

Messi is my favourite player to watch at the moment though. I love the way he dribbles through players like the ball is stuck to his fit. He goes so close to the opposition that you expect one of them to nick the ball from him but nearly every time he just slaloms through them all and comes out with the ball.