₦airaland Forum

I just read that Messi has talent, but not as ambitious as Oponunaldo

You see, there are two people in this life. People that strive for greatness, and people that are comfortable in their comfort zone.
In terms of modern football, Oponunaldo and Messi clearly fall into the first category.

I can list 50 players who are as talented as they can be but did not amount to much. To mention a few, Angel Dimaria, Ricardo Quaresma, Bojan Krkic, Giovanni Dos Santos, Hartem Ben Arfa, Celestine Babayaro, even our very own jay jay Okocha. These players by their own standards had the very potential to be a GOAT. It is either they toiled with mediocrity in their prime years, unlucky with injuries, or they lived flamboyant lifestyles at the expense of a prolific career.

To say Messi is not ambitious? It is either you people do not understand that talent alone DID NOT make Messi the player he is today. If anything, he had more obstacles to his illustrious career while growing up than most players who are equally talented. For crying out loud, Messi is the man that Barcelona breathes...you think it is just talent? How many talented players have played for barca and were disgraced out of the club? You see a player who never dives to the ground even when been hacked down, but instead fights to get the ball moving and you say he doesn't have ambition? You see a player who wants to win everything every season by scoring goals, assisting team mates, splitting up opposition defenses and you say he doesn't have ambition? Or rather as you put it, his ambition is not up to Oponunaldo's? A player has 5 ballon dors and he doesn't have Oponunaldo's ambition? Keeping in mind that Oponunaldo first beat him to it but he turned tables and won four in a row despite being 3/2 years younger?


What you people don't understand is that Oponunaldo is a media guru. He paints whatever he wants on social media. He's working out, flying in private jets, smacking booties,..he's football's alpha male! Messi doesn't give too much attention to carrying 25 litres of petrol to form hardworking. His hardwork is shown on the pitch!

As far as football is concerned, hardworking and talent should be measured in terms of performances...both individual, and team effort. If you tell me Oponunaldo is hardworking based on goals and bla bla, why is not Messi as equally hardworking? Considering the fact that even with stats, Messi still trumps Oponunaldo.


They are both hardworking players as far as I'm concerned, and I will always rate Messi above him. You don't have to agree

LordAdam16:
There is no GOAT list without CR7's name. Not one.

My stats are useless, but your stats are useful. Stop embarrassing yourself.

All pundits have their different opinions on who is better between Pele, Maradona, Cryuff, R9, Ronaldinho, Messi, and CR7. So why should I pay mind to their opinions, when they're just that subjective opinions. Everyone has facts to prove why each of those aforementioned is the GOAT.

I have mine, you have yours! Yours is not more important than mine. Case closed!

-Lord

LordAdam16:
And where does CR7, Cruyff, R9, and Ronaldinho go?

The GOAT list is not limited to 3, I don't care about pundit sh*t opinions, and as I said I've got facts and stats to back my opinion.

CR7 is the GOAT. Deal with it or better still argue with your key pad.

-Lord

Football legends, millions of football viewers, and in fact the general public put Messi in the league of Pele and Maradona. On a more considerable note, you have other players like paco gento, di stefano, Delimma, and Cryuff.

Nobody is saying Oponunaldo is not a great player goalscorer, what is obvious is the fact that the football world generally rates Messi in the league of Pele and Maradona.

But a certain Lord Adam from Ojuelegba said he doesn't care about pundits' opinions . Please apart from nairaland and maybe your Family members, who gives a shiit about your own opinion .

The useless stats you've been disturbing our precious thread with are not only useless, they still don't negate the fact that the football world rates Messi ahead of oponunaldo .


Please I beg you in the name of whatever you believe in, stop disgracing your ancestors

We thank the God of Messi, who has once again shamed the many ramblers of the overrated EPL. Long may their ramblings continue!

As for the qualified teams for the round of 8, I dare say Bayern is the most dreadful after Barcelona currently.

The times they got whitewashed by PSG, a certain ancelotti was their coach. As of now, Jupp Heycknes is at the helm of affairs. They have their full squad recovered from injuries... They are competing for the treble... And I remember this same coach destroyed barca sometime back. Not asserting that they will knock us out should we meet, just stating they are a competition.

It's really difficult to say who will go into the semis until we see the draws tomorrow. Until then sha

Oh one last thing, a certain samba boy was last seen getting bundled out by Real Madrid. He thought he was good enough to beat Oponunaldo . We all know who oponunaldo's boss is...

Barca vs Chelsea incoming

I wan burst nut abeg

PSG are not taking chances!

For the love of football, may the best team win tonight.


PSG might even play better WITHOUT Neymar tonight...given that Neymar unnecessarily tries to get too many touches on the ball. However, they will miss his creativity.

Not to worry, there's still Angel Di Maria, Draxler, or Mbappe who can also be dangerous when they go on beast mode.

There are only 2 things that will cost PSG this match.
1. Failure to convert their chances
2. Slack defending.

If the above does not happen, they will knock Real Madrid out!

Atletico Madrid will get well beaten tomorrow

This thread needs cleansing

Sometimes I don't understand how people think. Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Here are the numbers between busquets, Rakitic, Paulinho, and iniesta

Passes
Raki : 110 accurate passes/116 total passes (95%)
Bus: 128 accurate passes/139 total passes (92%)
Paulinho: 31 accurate passes/36 total passes (86%)
Iniesta: 88 accurate passes/98 total passes (90%)

Touches
Bus: 153 (11.3% possession)
Raki: 124 (9.7% possession)
Iniesta: 112 (7.9% possession)
Paulinho: 47 (3% possession)

Tackles attempted
Bus: 6 tackles/10 attempted tackles (60%)
Iniesta: 2 tackles/4 attempted tackles (50%)
Raki: 1 tackle/5 attempted tackles (20%)
Paulinho: 0 tackles.

Lost possession/fouls
Raki: No possession lost/2 fouls and 1 yellow card
Busi: No possession lost/3 fouls and 1 yellow card
Paulinho: No possession lost/0 fouls
Iniesta: 2 times lost lost possession/1 foul

The above stats were culled from whoscored.com for anybody's info.

My point is that paulinho was the only flop of yesterday's match. I don't understand why Rakitic is being dragged when clearly, he and busquets ran the show in the midfield.
Objectively, you cannot blam EV for playing a 4-4-2, knowing fully well that barca has played most of the matches using this formation.

For those people suggesting that he didn't rotate players, it is you same people who will call for his head supposing we lost to eibar on Saturday. This is the f*cking UCL, this is the trophy that counts.

From my objective point of view, barca played the perfect possession game, the only flaw in the attack was that the team didn't get the ball into the 18 area enough! And you surely cannot blame the team. Imagine 5 defenders and 4 midfielders all packed into the 18-yard!

Most times when messi sprayed those orgasmic z-balls into jordi alba, he was already being marked down by willian and moses. Alba especially had to make back passes to Andres repeatedly because there was nowhere to go. Same thing with Roberto too. Pedro and Alonso were breathing down his neck always.

Truth be told, we knew that Chelsea are cvntards at the bridge. We knew they would pack the bus. Barca played the best way they could've played. No defensive errors, no useless back passes, no counter attack goal. We even forced Chelsea into making error.


I think people should understand football more from a tactical sense of view rather than a sentimental sense of view.
The result at Stanford bridge is good enough for barca to advance. Chelsea will surely get beaten at the camp.

With this current team, Chelsea cannot and will not eliminate barca at this stage

We may not win both legs, but we ain't crashing out. Gone are the days of shitty defense.

PSG could've killed that game I swear.
PSG's front line didn't connect as they should. They are just a bunch of selfish forwards.

And more importantly, Madrid have only the UCL to salvage having lost all other competitions. There's that extra motivaion.


PSG can still come back, given they have that crucial away goal. Emery should go and sharpen his players' hunger for UCL glory, else he will get sacked at the end of the season.

As for Neymar1095, you can see that Neymar is very unfortunate .
I advise you to join messi's gang so that you won't be unfortunate like Neymar

Where are the EPL rats

Neymar1095:
Almighty Barca scoring 9 champions league goals in the group stage with 3 own goals while psg was creating champions league goals record for group stage thanks to Neymar...........Yeye

I know you will move to champions league


Let PSG beat Madrid first, we will know if they truly have the balls to take on Europe's best

Neymar1095:
I don't have time to read this rubbish. Even a mad man knows Neymar absence left a gap in barca attacking play.......shift!

The only mad man that knows this shiit is you
Lol. You're beyond saving walahi

Neymar1095:
1st of all Athletico Madrid has The best defense in La Liga not barca.
Neymar absence has everything to do with barca boring performance this season. So You are telling me Losing the team most creative player last Season who also happens to have the most assist all competition last season as well did not affect the attacking aspect of barca game. Continue deceiving yourself bros

Okay. Atletico Madrid has the best defense. My bad. Barca comes in second right?

If the most creative player in the barca team left, why are barca 7 points clear at the top?

If barca now plays boring football in the absence of Neymar, why does barca still have the highest pass accuracy, with ball possession? Barca has the most shots in the league after real Madrid. And even have the highest number of shots on target

Why has barca still scored the most goals in the league. Why does messi have the highest assist in laliga this season?

Neymar's absence has done Nada to the team. I know you will not agree because you don't have sense

Neymar1095:
Neymar leaves and we see a significant decrease
in Messi & Suarez' goal/assist stats. No suprise
there.

I could've ignored you, but let's just say I have small time this evening.

While it's true that barca has not scored as much as last season, it's more as a result of team shape and playing style rather than the absence of Neymar. I know your brain cannot understand so let me school you

Barca is unbeaten in the Laliga, and UCL this season... even conceding the least goals in the Liga so far (better than Atletico Madrid who supposedly have the best defense in Spain). It shows that where barca was "lacking" in attack, it was supplemented in defence.

A much more stable 4-4-2 has been frequently used this season with the introduction of a paulinho who offers strength in the middle. Rakitic has also been rightly played in his natural holding position. Messi also has majorly transited between midfield and attack, which implies that barca can switch to a 4-5-1 whenever messi drops deep.

Naturally, you have more balance when you have more players in the midfield than in the attack.

Neymar"s absence has absolutely nothing to do with Barca's performance this season If anything, barca has become better, stronger, and much more stable.

I understand your obsession with Neymar, but I don't understand your lack of common sense

jamescross:
3 - Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to score a perfect hat-trick in La Liga this season (right foot, left foot and head). Machine.

bwahahaha Barca fans when will messi do this Ronaldo is backkkkk

The goals brought Ronaldo's league count to seven since the turn of the year, the best among all La Liga players in that time, with his full league count now standing at 11 on the season.

Because opta stats haven't found any decent record to attach to oponunaldo's name, they found "perfect hatrick" record to tag him .

Ordinary Cedrick Bakambu of Villarreal was first liga player to score hatrick this season, yet we no hear word.
Your MCM's team has been ploughed left, right, and center this season and you're here discussing one useless hatrick


Is sense not far from your destiny like this ?

Enrique knows he dare not take the job before February 20

He will be sacked immediately after getting arsed

10Dove:
you do realize that conte could be sacked b4 then? Pique is out, anything can happen. The situation is too similar to 2012

He he... Definitely not with a sloppy Bakayoko, a misfiring morata, and a wobbly defense.

Pique is injured, at least we have somewhat quality backup. Who Chelsea get abeg? Is it Rudiger and Cahill that want to be marking messi and co?

Make Conte just try to field 3 Ds against barca, that's if he isn't sacked by then.

Barca will kill this Chelsea.

My fellow cules

I am very sorry to have suggested the possibility of Chelsea eliminating barca from the UCL.

The next time I say such nonsense on this thread again, abeg wire me better slap

SerVik:
Lord knows I've preached caution against chelsea on this very thread, I highlighted their strong points and said they might worry us but I never for once believed they would knock us out. I still don't.

See, history doesn't play football, players do. Tactics does. Character does. These are values barca have in abundance. Sometime in November, I said we would end the year unbeaten. Someone reminded me that we hadn't played madrid. According to him, no matter how low madrid sink, they would always be a hard nut to crack. Needless to say, madrid collected 3. Last season, we couldn't get a goal in 2 legs against juventus, this season they collected 3 in the first leg.
Bayern beat us 7-0 over two legs, the next time we met them, we beat them 3-0 in the first leg. History is always there to be broken.

With laliga in the bag, copa in the pipeline, we have the opportunity to rotate our squad and present a very fresh squad for that game. Chelsea on the other hand won't be so lucky, they have very tough league games before and after playing us and seeing as they are still struggling for top 4 and do not have enough quality to adequately rotate, there is a high possibility of presenting a fatigued team.

Like someone earlier said, if barca loses that game, it is because they messed up. The game is ours to lose.

I agree with you, that barca are outright favorites. My pouint exactly is that anything is possible in the UCL knock out stages. It is true that players play football and not history. But any establishment cannot move forward without learning from history. 2012 that Chelsea knocked us out, would you say barca didn't have character or Guardiola wasn't tactical enough? As a matter of fact, barca played a 3-4-4 at camp nou in that second leg... Chelsea had a red card, and practically had no tactics except to defend.

My point is this... we know that consistency, team cohesion, form, squad depth will win games. But when it comes to knockout, anything can happen! Football generally can be unpredictable at times...tactics have been known to fail times without number.

Are you now expressly saying that there is zero probability that Chelsea will knock out barca?

Not to spoil the fun o.

While barca is the obvious favorite to beat Chelsea home and away, the team must (as a matter of fact) not underrate Chelsea.

I remember in 2012. Chelsea were having serious managerial issues after AVB was sacked. Di Mateo who was the stand in coach had no UCL experience as compared to Barca's legendary Guardiola. At the bridge, barca played the whole 90 minutes we all know who won the first leg. With Alexis, Fabregas, and Pedro coming really close...only one goal from drogba was enough.

The pressure of knock out was too much for barca in the second leg. Chelsea somehow managed to knock us out. Especially at this knockout stage in UCL, anything is absolutely possible. The only thing that will fvck barca up is if we go into that match with overconfidence, or lethargy.

Truth is, I won't even be surprised if barca gets knocked out. 1 quick fire goal, bus parked will do the job. All this second half ginger barca likes doing won't work if they fail to convert chances from the first minute.

I don talk my own sha

Neymar1095:
You're trolling yourself sir. You and Dangote, who will rejoice more over buying a Range Rover?

If Zidane is anybody, he clearly isn't Pep Guardiola!

Both coaches started out from their Club's youth team. While one went on to win the division, the other's tenure was disastrous.

They both got promoted to the first team. One had no prior experience on first team management, the other was assistant to one of the most successful coaches in the world.

In his first season, one (who clearly had a big game plan) sold the first team's most influential players (Ronaldinho, Deco, almost sold Eto'o). And brought in small boys from his shaped B team (Pedro, busquets). The other had such quality squad depth and a Great first team.

One won everything winnable with his first team, the other did win back to back UCL. Back to back club world cup trophies, back to back uefa super cup trophies.

One could field an entire team of unknown players from the academy and Still win matches...the other can only dream of it.

One employed the club's most recognized version of football (tiki taka), the other not only rubbished his club's reputation of Galacticos, he's style was rather to cross and nod, or work balls for tap-ins.

One produced and nurtured several talents from the academy (Pedro, busquets, Tello, Roberto, Montoya, Bartra, Thiago)...The other did his bit of nurturing in Asensio and Lucas Vasquez. A certain Achraf Hakimi and Borja Mayoral are probably upcoming, but clearly not good enough to be termed talents. The other even sold Morata, and Mariano Diaz just to keep a certain Benzediot happy in the team.

One is regarded by the football world as the best manager Barcelona has ever had bar Cryuff, the other is just on a list of Real Madrid coaches

If anything needs to be concluded, Zidane tries to build talents from Real Madrid's academy just like Pep did...but he sucks at it. His handle of transfer is miles below impressive, and he has destroyed the squad depth that clearly helped him succeed in his previous season.

Zidane is just another one / two season wonder. Not even in the league of Arsene Wenger .

Pep on the other hand, lives in the realm of Ferguson, Cryuff, Munoz, Jupp Heycknes!

You madridiots can go and lick your balls . Eyin oniranu radarada

Neymar1095:
excuse me. Have been supporting barca since 1996. Don't you dare.

So you're 21 years old

Neymar1095:
How can anyone pity Athletico Madrid. MY hatred for koke ehnnnn. Barca where bidding for the idiot he was forming loyalty now no club rates him any longer. Long may there woes continue.

Are you a barca fan? Or just a clubless troll?

TLona1:
He played a big role in La Remontada.

NOPE. If I recall correctly, he was shipped off at half time. Watch the highlights again, he rarely made good use of all the space he had on that right wing.

He was Barca's highest scoring midfielder last season until injury plagued him. That lad has paid his dues, and I'm glad he's getting a good deal with the Inter switch.

Truth is Barcelona's status demands the highest quality of players, even from its academy. Good just doesn't cut it, you have to be great, exceptional, or world class to make the team cut. Rafinha alcantara unlike thiago is good. Nothing more. There's really not much quality he is known for except strength, and tackling.

If you look at players like Xavi, Ini, Busquets, Guardiola,...and you compare rafinha, Jonathan Dos Santos, Oriol Romeu, D. Suarez, you would understand the point better. Sergi Roberto has clearly shown potential to be a key member of barca in a few seasons. You can see his special ability to make runs from deep.

Just saying lamasia products do not always meet Barca's standard. So it's no need to take it personal when they are offloaded. It's just important that the club makes sure they get good deals with reputable clubs

Calm your titties.

Socieded 1 - 4 Barcelona at 90 minutes

5+ additional minutes

EPL is shitty

jonsnow92:
1st off its my joy to see them flop..And Long may it continue.


Really though one of the main reasons is Zidane..Irony though since he has won 8 out of 10 titles since he took charge but Zidane too get agidi..He sold James,Morata and Danilo..He should have bought solid replacements for those that left..Morata hit double figures from the bench last season(1 out of only 4 players that hit double figures at Madrid last season)..Danilo was a solid back up to Carvajal..Instead Zizou trusted one 19yr old Somali Refugee(Archraf Hakimi) as back up to Carvajal.A decent lad but clearly not up to Madrid standard Yet..So he didn't adequately buy players and surprisingly the board trusted him enough to shift their policy of buying at least one Galatico every summer for Trust in Youth..Really though Hard to blame them cos you have to trust a Manager that's won CL back to back..Sadly though that trust is their Undoing..



Then there's the problem of their Defence..Teams find it to easy to score against Madrid..Make Betis,Now Villarreal dey beat Madrid for house..Really na Doom be that naa..Even Ordinary Numancia for copa score them..That's a huge worry cos the defence leaks goals easily..



Then Also the lack of goals.. I read somewhere that No Madrid player has scored more than 4 league goals..Ororo has 4 too..Infact Ororo has only converted 4 out of his last 17 clear Cut Chances..Do the maths,That's around 20%..If Ororo isn't Firing, Madrid isn't firing too..So really the problems are numerous but Zidane takes a huge part of the Blame..





Remains to be seen if he'll start second guessing himself by Going to buy players in this winter window, If he 2nd-guesses then that's a Problem for the Board again cos they will buy players Panikly...



Good Riddance and I pray they loose some More!

. I pray their losses extend well when they play PSG.
But come to think of it, they also conceded much last season o. Na just Ramos late header plus morata late goals they help them escape with narrow wins.

No doubt they still have quality in their team. But what even happens if the Marcelo, kroos, and carval go on injury . Probably the tap in prince will start crossing for Mayoral to nod inside net. Awon oniranu

Can we take a moment to talk about Madrid's problem at the moment?

I hold no iota of love towards oponunaldo and his fellow madridiots, but I think their board have been very foolish in the transfer window recently.

It started when the loaned out James Rodriguez (apparently because zizou felt he wasn't as important in his team), and then sold morata (who had better conversion rate than Benzidiot despite playing fewer minutes).

In their bid to ward off competition from Barcelona, they hijacked the sale of Danilo...and eventually sold him to Manchester city for some very stupid reason. Still with the aim of usurping barca from snapping up talents, they bought a certain dani ceballos who clearly doesn't have a place in the team...not even on the bench.

I understand that Zizou is trying to building the team around reserves rather than spending outrageously on readymade talent... But letting go your best backup players is not only stupid, but shows lack of experience.

I saw it coming though, but I didn't know it would be this bad. The trio of James, asensio, and kovacic in the middle of the park last season would beat Barca's shitty midfield play without apology. It's very normal if your starters are playing shiit, that's what a quality bench is for.

Squad depth won Real Madrid the Laliga last season. Its obvious why they are playing terribly this season.

The fact that Zizou doesn't even feel the need to sign players this transfer window shows how naive he is. I mean its good for the confidence of the youngsters... but well...the team clearly lacks a quality depth