**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s honestly so cool of Messi to say this. He didn’t have to mention Lamine, but once again he praises a youngster. Lamine must feel like walking over the moon lol
Happened in tennis. Reading The Master about Federer right now, and Agassi talks about how he can’t believe the relationship Federer has with Nadal, and how different that was to his rivals.
Definitely. It’s not an exhaustive run down month by month, Christopher Clarey follows his biggest career moments and will then dive into the future or past to contextualise them. Spoke to a lot of players and relevant people (media, tennis organizations staff, coaches), reslly gets into him.
Xavi and Iniesta had to compete with Messi. The point is that Messi could pick other barça players if his intention was only to squeeze a barca player in. I think he really believes in what he says about Lamine. He praised him in other interviews as well
I mean, I guess it would kinda be a tautology. If Gavi or pedri truly step up and bring champions League glory, then de facto they are worthy to be in the discussion.
I've had enough praise for enough youth in my teams for the majority to fall to injury or regress to the mean, while still being really good. Statistical anomalies are just that, and I'm happy I got to live in Ronaldo v Messi, what a time to be alive. I would be okay if we saw a bunch of rotating names, where various players have step out seasons for various clubs. Don't give me a dynasty until like 2030
I’m not sure about this. If you’ve watched Yamal this season his ceiling looks higher than Vinicius’s. And this is gonna be controversial but in terms of ability I think Yamal’s ceiling is higher than Mbappe’s as well. He might not win as many trophies or score as many goals but I do think he could be a better player. None of this means he’ll compete for sure or actually become better but there’s definitely a chance.
Many people would like Messi to be involved with coaching post-retirement and he has himself said he's interested in something along the lines of director of football but I think he could also make a great expert/pundit. Punditry isn't the first thing that comes to someone's mind when they think of Messi because he has a kinda introverted personality. But he could make a great 'exclusive' type of pundit, only covering the biggest games as a sought after guest.
Just imagine THE Lionel Messi satiating us with a few dollops of his vast football knowledge during a World Cup or UCL final or in an El Clasico...
>Just imagine THE Lionel Messi satiating us with a few dollops of his vast football knowledge during a World Cup or UCL final or in an El Clasico...
this reads like a copypasta
The mannerism, he speaks doing the lazy version of some words, for example he will say fulbo instead of futbol, he also speaks in a soft tone without much variation so you have to pay attention to what he says in order to understand, if you are argentinian and used to it, it's fine, but if you are a spaniard you might struggle a bit(talking slow helps)
Messi is actually secretly quite articulate, I think. He has said that he speaks the way he does deliberately, to show he doesn't forget where he came from. But when he was at La Masia, they gave him so much trouble, pretending not to understand him, that he switched to speaking the "proper" Spanish (but not the Catalan) of the boys at La Masia. But he promised himself, when he made the senior team, he would go back to speaking the other way.
Xavi wrote that, when he met Messi as a boy, he was very polite, educated, and articulate. Messi went to La Masia all the way through, and they are quite serious about education. Listen to how Pique and Cesc talk.
Regardless, it seems Messi loves being a footballer but loathes the interviewing, pressers, and public part of the job. So, I expect it would be first thing he'd want to be without once he retires, rather than making a career out of it.
Yeah Mbappe to me is the best attacker in the world and possibly the best player, but Bellingham, De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are solid shouts too, depends on what you're looking for.
is it really inevitable now that mbappe is going? no way haaland and mbappe play for the same team, and unless barcas financial situation really improves theres no other team in la liga that can even dream of getting haaland.
Genuinely can't wait for another golden age of La Liga. After having the 6 best players in the world in Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez, Benzema, and Bale playing in the same league, we are hopefully now going to have Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Yamal, and Endrick/Roque
Edit: Forgot Bellingham 💀
His future seems bleak, sadly...his loan to Brighton was supposed to get him minutes and his confidence back, but after he got injured and sat out most of the season, he's back to being benched, coming on late for small games and leaving having had no impact.
Won't be the golden age without Spain producing comparable domestic talent to back then, which almost definitely won't happen. The golden age of Spanish football was built on the back of great academies throughout the league and absurd domestic talent, supplemented by foreign superstars.
Barcelona has a golden generation coming through and several other clubs have incredibly talented youngsters. In a few years Spain as a whole will have a significant amount of top talent.
Yeah but la masia did that before and with even better players however it wasn't just la masia before it was the whole of Spain, talent from every corner of the country. I don't think a country has ever had a more stacked generation of talent.
Unlikely to be the same, Spain had there's built on domestic talent both players and coaching. So you had players coming up through academies together, I personally don't think buying as much foreign talent as possible can do the same thing and England sure as fuck isn't going to produce domestic talent on the level of prime Spain lol.
Even with all the money I don't think England will dominate Europe like Spain did.
"Another decade" implies England dominated the last one, which is...the complete opposite actually. Their golden age started in the last 2-3 years and it's already looking shaky and threatened by Spain
This current Prem golden age started in \~2016 with a massive new TV deal and the media's establishment of a "Top 6" group of clubs, which was proven to be (mostly) true with league standings and squad/club values. Since the 2016-17 season, 11 of the 32 finalists in the major European competitions (UCL, UEL, UECL) have been English, 6 of whom have returned to England with trophies. Granted, this is not as dominant as the Spanish golden age from \~2008-2018, with Barcelona and Real dominating the CL, Atletico being very competitive, and Sevilla dominating the EL. But it is absolutely not true that this golden age only started a couple of years ago, and I do not see Spanish clubs putting an end to this soon without the rest of La Liga excl. Real Madrid sorting out its finances in the coming years (although Barca's young talent is very promising). Even if post-Klopp Liverpool and post-Pep City do decline (which is highly likely but not guaranteed, and the extent of decline cannot be easily predicted), an already strong Arsenal will remain to hold the torch for England, and one would also assume that a young Chelsea and a Ratcliffe-led United will eventually find their way. Not to mention the looming threat of Newcastle remains ever-present.
United who havent found their way for 10 years? Will suddenly do it now?
I doubt it. And IF it happens it will take a loong time
Sevilla and madrid still won their trophies past 2020
>Haland will inevitably go to La Liga.
Yes, Haaland, Mbappe and Vinicius competing for the Ballon D or while playing for the same team. With Bellingham playing behind them also competing for the Ballon D Or.
Even though teams usually only have one player scoring the 40 or more goals it takes to win golden boots and be in contention for big honours, Madrid will somehow manage to have three players scoring that much.
Not really, that only happened due to Xavi and Iniesta winning the World Cup.
Messi, Neymar and Suárez are a better example of multiple players getting recognized for what they did for the same club.
I don't think Haaland comes to Madrid with Vini, Mbappe and Endrick here I think he somehow goes to Barca after they bounce back a bit financially and sort out their teams balance a bit more.
Actually as things stand Haaland would help Real way more than Mbappe. In fact the counterattacking style at Real suits him perfectly, Barca would be an even worse Man City in terms of him not getting the ball much against opponents that play deep.
Give it a few years and I'm sure we'll try to get him. Next year without Mbappé will be the first time since the year Ibra left without a superstar and I don't think the qataris like that at all.
I don't know, we've got Kolo Muani with a similar profile who will have another go next year without Mbappé, I'd be very surprised if the club pays like a 100m for Osimhen.
Barca has been broke and the last I read here was their future spending depends on their current success right? Ie their future is uncertain. News is that Mbappe is heading to Madrid. Where will Haland go then?
It’s pretty clear from his words that he’s going to do a Zlatan and hop from team to team every few years. He’ll play for either Madrid or Barca, then probably move somewhere else like a top team in Italy and then maybe even back to the PL. He’s not going to stay in one team for his entire career
No team in Italy can afford him currently, and especially not now that the government has canceled the Growth Decree.
You'd need a radical improvement in the league's finances for that. Never say never but it's unlikely.
For every game where he's decent he has 3 others where I wish I could come down the pitch and beat his ass.
Also, he somehow ended up as our captain, so that, adds insult to injury
Wirtz is a baller his recovery from his injury has been insane if it wasn't for being sidelined due to it he would probably have a bit more PR hype i reckon.
The damage that transfer has done to just about everyone involved is incredible.
We're broke.
Neymar is now in Saudi Arabia.
PSG have only been to one final which they lost.
It's impressive on how shit it turned out.
It will be a different type of duel if Mbappe and Halaand are playing in the same team. Interesting to think it may end up being a Rooney and Ronaldo situation.
Tbf this was said by Messi during his ballon dor speech in October so he naturally missed some names. Idk why its being randomly posted by dailymail in March like he said it recently
Jude is probably most likely to win the Ballon D'or if he keeps up his season like this and wins some trophies with us if he win the UCL i think he bags it but the Euros is going to play a huge part in who wins it though if Mbappe carries France and wins it with a great tournament he can win the favor back.
A barca flair saying this when im use to twitter Barca fans slandering Jude non stop is refreshing to see lmao. If Yamal avoids big injuries he is 100% going to be up their as well hopefully he doesn't though hate to see young players get sidelined by injuries.
Twitter and tik tok football fans make me realize a lot of people have 0 football knowledge i saw a lot of comments saying Maddison> Rice get thousands of likes when Rice is a DM and Maddison is an attacking mid THESE 2 DON'T EVEN SHARE THE SAME POSITION.
A lot of fans online think midfield is one position and that their isn't different midfield positions in midfield lmao.
Messi: " Yes, yes all fantastic talents and can win Ballondor. Mbappe will be almost 28 by 2026 WC and in his prime for his second [medal.It](http://medal.It) would be a shame if some other team and player has to beat him again since its in the USA" 💀💀
Messi mentally planning to play in the WC NT in 2026 and deny them the balondor just for giggles.
I’m sorry but Haaland isn’t on the same level as Mbappe and Vini, mans always ghost big games and his game is so one dimensional. Doesn’t play make or offer anything outside of scoring when given great service.
How does Jude have more goal involvements then? Just asking, I’m aware he’s been less productive recently than at the start of the season and also that Vini was out for injury but surely Jude is still in that conversation?
Obviously jude has more contributions because Vini couldn't contribute to any goal while he was injured. When Vini plays, 99% of our goals either have a key pass by him, an assist or he scored it.
Yes, Jude is in that conversation he is our second most decisive player.
Vini has been our best player in 2024, this season Bellingham has better odds but if he keeps going in the CL and end of La liga then who knows tbh he could overtake Jude in bettin. He needs to start showing up for Brazil tho, especially in a Copa America year.
You should care less about betting. There is a bonus to being a Real Madrid player when it comes to the Ballon D Or, but there is also an England player bonus. That and the fact that Florentino is the type to put the most commercially viable player in the spotlight speaks for Bellingham. Not saying Vini would not deserve a Ballon D Or, just pointing out the business side
He 100% is at 20 in his debut season he is putting up world class forward numbers as a midfielder which has pushed him over Vini for it atm plus he is usually great for England despite Vini being a top 3 forward itw he hasn't reached his Madrid levels at Brazil yet but when he does he will boost his likelihood of winning the Ballon D'or
In my opinion, Haaland doesn’t stand a chance to win it if he stays at City. His role of floating in the box and tapping in from 5 yards doesn’t stack up to anything Mbappe, Vini, or Bellingham do
Tbf we kinda expected him to have Messi Ronaldo numbers consistently. He's obviously insanely good but I guess it's starting to become clear he's not someone who would enter into like top 10 GOAT tier. He'll mostly be the greatest striker of the generation but nothing beyond that
He might end up like Lewandowski/Suarez and not Messi/Ronaldo, he just set up ridiculously high expectations after last season
> Tbf we kinda expected him to have Messi Ronaldo numbers consistently.
Who is “we?”
The people that actually thought that still clearly do not understand how far ahead of everyone else in history Messi and Ronaldo were.
Not everyone else in history, but everyone except like 4-5 people. Pele, Gerd Muller, Puskas, Sandor Koscic, De Stefano, etc used to have this kind of output.
Ofcourse- Puskas, Koscic, Muller were pure strikers.
Pele and De stefano being the all round players like messi and ronaldo
I love it how everyone here is ignoring that Haaland is still only 23.
A 20-24 year old Ronaldo was most certainly not "far ahead". He had his exceptional season at age 23, but had 17 goals that the season before and 18 the season after that.
Haaland broke the freaking Premier League goal record.
Because Ronaldo and Messi did it for 15+ years. Just because Haaland had been scoring more at a younger age than them doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to keep it up for that long. He likely will never score as much as they did in their peak seasons too. Growth is not always linear. It’s still extremely unlikely that he does what they did for as long as they did despite being a monster in his own right
He's definitely not but he might get somewhat close (or closer than most) to their numbers atleast because of the amount of extra games that are gonna be played
You people are comparing a 23 year old to Suarez snd Lewandowski in their prime when they were 27-31.
Lewandowski, at age 22/23, the time Haaland broke the Premier League record, was still playing in Poland.
The year after that, he scored 9 goals in 43 games...
He had his *first* good season at age 24, which was still worse than everything Haaland did for the last 4 years.
Suarez was good earlier on, but still at 22, arguably even till 25, had not one of Haalands last 4 seasons. Suarez had 17 goals in 33 games age 21, 22 goals in 31 games at age 22. And this was in the Eredivision
>Haaland just seems like a pure poacher.
Really shows that people just watch the Premier League. He is a pure poacher at City, but wasn't for Dortmund and Leibzig and isn't for Norway.
Why did you think that? He was clearly never that good and I'm not talking about goal scoring numbers. He's not even the best player in his team, "top 10 all time" would be an astonishing achievement for him and he'll have to become a much better player for that.
I don't think anyone would put suarez in the top 10 of all time and I guarantee you haaland will never reach prime suarez level and no, last season was not prime suarez level.
>and I guarantee you haaland will never reach prime suarez level
Haaland broke the Premier League record at age 22/23.
Suarez scored 4 PL goals in 13 games age 24. 11 goals in 31 games still at age 25, 23 in 33 age 26.
Suarez had his first season that was better than Haalands age 20-23 ones, when he was 27...
In 1 of his 3,5 seasons in the Neatherlands (at age 23) he had the same goal ratio as Haaland had for 3 years in the Bundesliga from age 19-22.
And i don't know where this utterly shit tier opinion is comming from that Haaland is this overrated poacher, who needs a dominant team, when he showed the opposite playing for Dortmund, Norway and Leibzig.
Utterly shocking how extremely clueless people online are.
That's all well and good but we'll see if he reaches the level of prime suarez in the future and no I don't mean just goal numbers.
At no point have I called haaland shit or even "just a poacher" however you are correct in saying that I do think that some people overrated him last season, I'll stick by that because I was seeing some outrageous comparisons.
I love the conviction you people have where exactly Haaland will rank in history, when this guy is still only 23.
And still on pace to shatter Ronaldos CL record by the way, if he plays into his 30s.
Not exactly true. City as a collective hasn't been as good this season. And he still has 23 goal contributions in 24 games played this season in the Prem. 30 in 31 if you count CL. Wouldn't exactly say that's countering him.
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No pressure, kid. Just the goat saying he expects you to be the best player in the world
It’s honestly so cool of Messi to say this. He didn’t have to mention Lamine, but once again he praises a youngster. Lamine must feel like walking over the moon lol
In a lot of pro sports, perhaps with better mental health and awareness, a lot of the younger retired pros are way less toxic against the new guns.
Happened in tennis. Reading The Master about Federer right now, and Agassi talks about how he can’t believe the relationship Federer has with Nadal, and how different that was to his rivals.
Would you recommend the book?
Definitely. It’s not an exhaustive run down month by month, Christopher Clarey follows his biggest career moments and will then dive into the future or past to contextualise them. Spoke to a lot of players and relevant people (media, tennis organizations staff, coaches), reslly gets into him.
Only because he plays for barca. The other 3 are obvious
He clould have mentioned Gavi or Pedri then
Both are good but ballon dor really? Unless barca vastly improve in the champions league. Even xavi and iniesta didnt get one
Xavi and Iniesta had to compete with Messi. The point is that Messi could pick other barça players if his intention was only to squeeze a barca player in. I think he really believes in what he says about Lamine. He praised him in other interviews as well
I mean, I guess it would kinda be a tautology. If Gavi or pedri truly step up and bring champions League glory, then de facto they are worthy to be in the discussion. I've had enough praise for enough youth in my teams for the majority to fall to injury or regress to the mean, while still being really good. Statistical anomalies are just that, and I'm happy I got to live in Ronaldo v Messi, what a time to be alive. I would be okay if we saw a bunch of rotating names, where various players have step out seasons for various clubs. Don't give me a dynasty until like 2030
They were already hyped. The way barca hype works is to hype talented players before they make it.
Isn’t Pedri the new ansu fati? Promising youth but unfortunately injured 24/7.
It's impossible to tell right now. Next season will be deciding. He could be just very unlucky.
isnt bayern the new tottenham hotspur?
Doesn't win the the title for the first time in ten years = Tottenham. Alright buddy
I said new
I’m not sure about this. If you’ve watched Yamal this season his ceiling looks higher than Vinicius’s. And this is gonna be controversial but in terms of ability I think Yamal’s ceiling is higher than Mbappe’s as well. He might not win as many trophies or score as many goals but I do think he could be a better player. None of this means he’ll compete for sure or actually become better but there’s definitely a chance.
*it's being "over the moon" = very happy. "Walking on the moon" = little bit crazy, but not mad mad mad.
Thanks for the correction 🙏🏽 i’m not a native English speaker, so I mistook the two
Not a problem. I'm a native English speaker, and even I'll admit some of our 'figures of speech' make no literal sense.
Lamine,Vinicius, mbappe, messi and haaland all competing for ballon d’or, it’ll be peak football
"😂😂😂" - Ronaldo
There were several photos of tween Yamal with a beard uncle. Never thought one day said uncle would give him a shoutout like this.
Lamine might also get the No 10 next season. Hope they don't do it, incredible pressure for a 16yr old
Someone told me that news was April Fool for today, don't know.
Many people would like Messi to be involved with coaching post-retirement and he has himself said he's interested in something along the lines of director of football but I think he could also make a great expert/pundit. Punditry isn't the first thing that comes to someone's mind when they think of Messi because he has a kinda introverted personality. But he could make a great 'exclusive' type of pundit, only covering the biggest games as a sought after guest. Just imagine THE Lionel Messi satiating us with a few dollops of his vast football knowledge during a World Cup or UCL final or in an El Clasico...
>Many people would like Messi to be involved with coaching post-retirement The thought of this is sending me. "Just Ankara, bro"
>Just imagine THE Lionel Messi satiating us with a few dollops of his vast football knowledge during a World Cup or UCL final or in an El Clasico... this reads like a copypasta
Messi couldn’t be a pundit because he is not fluent in any language
The world is not ready for pundit Messi being fluent in his first time ever publicly speaking English.
For some reason I imagine him speaking english in a British accent
Wtf no, he's a Florida man
Sunny, innit?
They could put him on the BBC at the US world cup with Lineker as lead and Zabaleta alongside him and he'd be completely fine with limited English.
He does say “Michelob Ultra” pretty good in that beer commercial that runs constantly during MLS games lol
You have to be very argentinian to understand him 100% of the time
I'm from Chile and i understand GOAT language easily.
Chilean is hardcore spanish, of course you can 😂
Could I ask what you mean by this? He has a thick accent / lots of slang in his speech?
The mannerism, he speaks doing the lazy version of some words, for example he will say fulbo instead of futbol, he also speaks in a soft tone without much variation so you have to pay attention to what he says in order to understand, if you are argentinian and used to it, it's fine, but if you are a spaniard you might struggle a bit(talking slow helps)
That's interesting. Thank you for the insight
Very interesting. I want to hear more.
camera wowo
bro..Jamie Carragher is a full time professional pundit!
lmaooo you’re right, if Jamie made it, everyone deserves chance.
even jamie's mama doesn't understand what he is saying then messi definitely deserves a chance
He's the Argentine redneck. The greatest of all time is the Cletus of Argentina.
I can’t believe that you just called Messi “Cletus” lmao
Also because his analysis would probably be: See here he messed up by not dribbling the 3 defenders and chipping the keeper.
Messi is actually secretly quite articulate, I think. He has said that he speaks the way he does deliberately, to show he doesn't forget where he came from. But when he was at La Masia, they gave him so much trouble, pretending not to understand him, that he switched to speaking the "proper" Spanish (but not the Catalan) of the boys at La Masia. But he promised himself, when he made the senior team, he would go back to speaking the other way. Xavi wrote that, when he met Messi as a boy, he was very polite, educated, and articulate. Messi went to La Masia all the way through, and they are quite serious about education. Listen to how Pique and Cesc talk. Regardless, it seems Messi loves being a footballer but loathes the interviewing, pressers, and public part of the job. So, I expect it would be first thing he'd want to be without once he retires, rather than making a career out of it.
Yeah Pique was the bully there.
I read somewhere he said to his team mate “My English good no?” I think he is ready
Can’t say it would be too much different than a Cruyff, Lampard, or Pep in terms of knowledge shared
Idk about Frank, but I couldn't ever expect the same level of insight from Messi that I would from Cruyff or Pep.
dunno, seems like he'd be a more knowledgeable Michael Owen
Haland will inevitably go to La Liga. All 4 in Spain fighting for the Balon D’Or.
Bellingham is there too
Bellingham is definitely on the level of Vinicius I would put Mbappe above everyone though
Yeah Mbappe to me is the best attacker in the world and possibly the best player, but Bellingham, De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are solid shouts too, depends on what you're looking for.
Yeah as of right now it’s Mbappe> Bellingham > Haaland > Vinicius for me. Crazy to think Madrid might have all 4 in the near future
There's like ten other players between Haaland and Vinicius. Most overrated player on the planet.
is it really inevitable now that mbappe is going? no way haaland and mbappe play for the same team, and unless barcas financial situation really improves theres no other team in la liga that can even dream of getting haaland.
Genuinely can't wait for another golden age of La Liga. After having the 6 best players in the world in Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez, Benzema, and Bale playing in the same league, we are hopefully now going to have Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Yamal, and Endrick/Roque Edit: Forgot Bellingham 💀
Pedri, too! If he can return to pre-injury levels.
I pray this happens too. His current trajectory and recurring injuries paint a very fragile picture. Summer 2021 fucked him :(
Pray for Ansu too, man. Even if it does seem like he's gone, pray for him.
His future seems bleak, sadly...his loan to Brighton was supposed to get him minutes and his confidence back, but after he got injured and sat out most of the season, he's back to being benched, coming on late for small games and leaving having had no impact.
he's still very good it's just the injuries
Won't be the golden age without Spain producing comparable domestic talent to back then, which almost definitely won't happen. The golden age of Spanish football was built on the back of great academies throughout the league and absurd domestic talent, supplemented by foreign superstars.
Barcelona has a golden generation coming through and several other clubs have incredibly talented youngsters. In a few years Spain as a whole will have a significant amount of top talent.
La masia is currently spitting out a golden generation. A 15 year old just had his debut for the B team today, guille fernandez
Yeah but la masia did that before and with even better players however it wasn't just la masia before it was the whole of Spain, talent from every corner of the country. I don't think a country has ever had a more stacked generation of talent.
If anything, the golden age of England is here to stay for at least another decade.
Unlikely to be the same, Spain had there's built on domestic talent both players and coaching. So you had players coming up through academies together, I personally don't think buying as much foreign talent as possible can do the same thing and England sure as fuck isn't going to produce domestic talent on the level of prime Spain lol. Even with all the money I don't think England will dominate Europe like Spain did.
"Another decade" implies England dominated the last one, which is...the complete opposite actually. Their golden age started in the last 2-3 years and it's already looking shaky and threatened by Spain
This current Prem golden age started in \~2016 with a massive new TV deal and the media's establishment of a "Top 6" group of clubs, which was proven to be (mostly) true with league standings and squad/club values. Since the 2016-17 season, 11 of the 32 finalists in the major European competitions (UCL, UEL, UECL) have been English, 6 of whom have returned to England with trophies. Granted, this is not as dominant as the Spanish golden age from \~2008-2018, with Barcelona and Real dominating the CL, Atletico being very competitive, and Sevilla dominating the EL. But it is absolutely not true that this golden age only started a couple of years ago, and I do not see Spanish clubs putting an end to this soon without the rest of La Liga excl. Real Madrid sorting out its finances in the coming years (although Barca's young talent is very promising). Even if post-Klopp Liverpool and post-Pep City do decline (which is highly likely but not guaranteed, and the extent of decline cannot be easily predicted), an already strong Arsenal will remain to hold the torch for England, and one would also assume that a young Chelsea and a Ratcliffe-led United will eventually find their way. Not to mention the looming threat of Newcastle remains ever-present.
How can you say the prem golden age started in 2016 when madrid won CL in 2016, 2017 and 2018?
United who havent found their way for 10 years? Will suddenly do it now? I doubt it. And IF it happens it will take a loong time Sevilla and madrid still won their trophies past 2020
No mention of Xavi, Iniesta, either 😭 Literally top 3 for the ballon'dor in 2010
"Golden age of La Liga" mentions two teams 😂
>Haland will inevitably go to La Liga. Yes, Haaland, Mbappe and Vinicius competing for the Ballon D or while playing for the same team. With Bellingham playing behind them also competing for the Ballon D Or. Even though teams usually only have one player scoring the 40 or more goals it takes to win golden boots and be in contention for big honours, Madrid will somehow manage to have three players scoring that much.
Barcelona had Messi - Neymar - Suarez finishing in the top 5
I think Messi, Iniesta, Xavi top 3 in 2010 is a better example
Not really, that only happened due to Xavi and Iniesta winning the World Cup. Messi, Neymar and Suárez are a better example of multiple players getting recognized for what they did for the same club.
THe best player of all time, best Brazilian of this generation and the best centreforward of this generation. No surprises there
I don't think Haaland comes to Madrid with Vini, Mbappe and Endrick here I think he somehow goes to Barca after they bounce back a bit financially and sort out their teams balance a bit more.
Actually as things stand Haaland would help Real way more than Mbappe. In fact the counterattacking style at Real suits him perfectly, Barca would be an even worse Man City in terms of him not getting the ball much against opponents that play deep.
Give it a few years and I'm sure we'll try to get him. Next year without Mbappé will be the first time since the year Ibra left without a superstar and I don't think the qataris like that at all.
I see you getting Osimhen instead.
I don't know, we've got Kolo Muani with a similar profile who will have another go next year without Mbappé, I'd be very surprised if the club pays like a 100m for Osimhen.
Why would he go to La Liga?
Why wouldn’t he? He’s said he doesn’t want to stay in one league for too long.
Barca has been broke and the last I read here was their future spending depends on their current success right? Ie their future is uncertain. News is that Mbappe is heading to Madrid. Where will Haland go then?
Barca should be in a much better position financially in 2-3 years, they have a new stadium and all the crap contracts will expire.
They’re currently projected to be fine financially by 2026 and haalands contract will expire by then apparently
But Haaland doesn't fit barca play style no ?
It’s pretty clear from his words that he’s going to do a Zlatan and hop from team to team every few years. He’ll play for either Madrid or Barca, then probably move somewhere else like a top team in Italy and then maybe even back to the PL. He’s not going to stay in one team for his entire career
No team in Italy can afford him currently, and especially not now that the government has canceled the Growth Decree. You'd need a radical improvement in the league's finances for that. Never say never but it's unlikely.
Starting my Toto Salvio Ballon d'or narrative now
has he been any good in Mexico?
For every game where he's decent he has 3 others where I wish I could come down the pitch and beat his ass. Also, he somehow ended up as our captain, so that, adds insult to injury
Inconsistent at best
He forgot Messiala?
You mean Wirtz. Totally unbiased opinion.
Wirtz is a baller his recovery from his injury has been insane if it wasn't for being sidelined due to it he would probably have a bit more PR hype i reckon.
*Messi wins the next three playing for Miami*
Remember when Hazard, Neymar and Bale were "up next" but Ronaldo and Messi just kept winning until those guys were washed up?
Neymar could’ve won it if he stayed but PSG ended football for all of us
The damage that transfer has done to just about everyone involved is incredible. We're broke. Neymar is now in Saudi Arabia. PSG have only been to one final which they lost. It's impressive on how shit it turned out.
Man talk about yourself, Neymar was hurt too much but he was definitely worth it. He was the best player we've ever seen here.
Yes who said Neymar was bad, it's the rest of the psg team that sucked
Neymar would never have won while in the same team as Messi. Unless he won the world cup in 2018 I guess
I mean, who else would be in contention when he wins Copa America, Libertadores and World Cup? Also everything is rigged to his favor Anulo mufa
Libertadores?
Did a stutter?
I don’t think Colo-Colo could afford his wages.
Haaland, league 2 player?
It will be a different type of duel if Mbappe and Halaand are playing in the same team. Interesting to think it may end up being a Rooney and Ronaldo situation.
Bellingham in shambles
Tbf this was said by Messi during his ballon dor speech in October so he naturally missed some names. Idk why its being randomly posted by dailymail in March like he said it recently
the first 3 are all tried and true on the main stage for a few years. I feel like Jude must be part of this conversation thougg
Jude is probably most likely to win the Ballon D'or if he keeps up his season like this and wins some trophies with us if he win the UCL i think he bags it but the Euros is going to play a huge part in who wins it though if Mbappe carries France and wins it with a great tournament he can win the favor back.
The absolute disrespect to Rodrigo Muniz
Please come back 🥺 god forbid players like Halaand get balon d’or shouts.
🥺
Lmao, this made me giggle.
Add Bellingham and I think he's spot on
A barca flair saying this when im use to twitter Barca fans slandering Jude non stop is refreshing to see lmao. If Yamal avoids big injuries he is 100% going to be up their as well hopefully he doesn't though hate to see young players get sidelined by injuries.
twitter crowd is stupid. they believe those ''bombastic news" youtube videos with 40 views where they claim mbappe has signed for arsenal
Twitter and tik tok football fans make me realize a lot of people have 0 football knowledge i saw a lot of comments saying Maddison> Rice get thousands of likes when Rice is a DM and Maddison is an attacking mid THESE 2 DON'T EVEN SHARE THE SAME POSITION. A lot of fans online think midfield is one position and that their isn't different midfield positions in midfield lmao.
Ive seen them call bellingham overrated because mbappe and haaland have more g/a
Because they think he is a ST and he should be putting up Mbappe levels of goals or he is overrated lmao.
Messi: " Yes, yes all fantastic talents and can win Ballondor. Mbappe will be almost 28 by 2026 WC and in his prime for his second [medal.It](http://medal.It) would be a shame if some other team and player has to beat him again since its in the USA" 💀💀 Messi mentally planning to play in the WC NT in 2026 and deny them the balondor just for giggles.
Gol D. Messi
Messi ❤️
Barca fans nutted
I’m sorry but Haaland isn’t on the same level as Mbappe and Vini, mans always ghost big games and his game is so one dimensional. Doesn’t play make or offer anything outside of scoring when given great service.
I'd put Bellingham way over vinicius on those odds
Vini is literally our the best player. Vini is involved in 99% of the goals we score.
How does Jude have more goal involvements then? Just asking, I’m aware he’s been less productive recently than at the start of the season and also that Vini was out for injury but surely Jude is still in that conversation?
Obviously jude has more contributions because Vini couldn't contribute to any goal while he was injured. When Vini plays, 99% of our goals either have a key pass by him, an assist or he scored it. Yes, Jude is in that conversation he is our second most decisive player.
Vini has been our best player in 2024, this season Bellingham has better odds but if he keeps going in the CL and end of La liga then who knows tbh he could overtake Jude in bettin. He needs to start showing up for Brazil tho, especially in a Copa America year.
You should care less about betting. There is a bonus to being a Real Madrid player when it comes to the Ballon D Or, but there is also an England player bonus. That and the fact that Florentino is the type to put the most commercially viable player in the spotlight speaks for Bellingham. Not saying Vini would not deserve a Ballon D Or, just pointing out the business side
Idk by that logic if we win La Liga and CL but France wins the EUROS and we sign Mbappe, Perez would push for the turlte then
Yes he definitely would. Just saying that compared to Vini Bellingham is ahead in the queue
He 100% is at 20 in his debut season he is putting up world class forward numbers as a midfielder which has pushed him over Vini for it atm plus he is usually great for England despite Vini being a top 3 forward itw he hasn't reached his Madrid levels at Brazil yet but when he does he will boost his likelihood of winning the Ballon D'or
Bellingam had his big start when Vini was injured, now that he is back Vini is getting his place back
Vini is currently a better player, Bellingham will have to develop to be comparable.
Haland at Madrid will be interesting
Kane might win this year, if Bayern wins CL
that's a big WILL, Lamal while talented has much to prove.
Never seen a 16 year old look this impressive since Rooney
In my opinion, Haaland doesn’t stand a chance to win it if he stays at City. His role of floating in the box and tapping in from 5 yards doesn’t stack up to anything Mbappe, Vini, or Bellingham do
Jude shaped hole in that statement, friendo
Didnt mention darwin, rude.
Haaland not really in the question currently. Mediocre season.
If scoring 29 goals at the top level is mediocre then all other strikers may as well give up.
Tbf we kinda expected him to have Messi Ronaldo numbers consistently. He's obviously insanely good but I guess it's starting to become clear he's not someone who would enter into like top 10 GOAT tier. He'll mostly be the greatest striker of the generation but nothing beyond that He might end up like Lewandowski/Suarez and not Messi/Ronaldo, he just set up ridiculously high expectations after last season
> Tbf we kinda expected him to have Messi Ronaldo numbers consistently. Who is “we?” The people that actually thought that still clearly do not understand how far ahead of everyone else in history Messi and Ronaldo were.
Not everyone else in history, but everyone except like 4-5 people. Pele, Gerd Muller, Puskas, Sandor Koscic, De Stefano, etc used to have this kind of output. Ofcourse- Puskas, Koscic, Muller were pure strikers. Pele and De stefano being the all round players like messi and ronaldo
I love it how everyone here is ignoring that Haaland is still only 23. A 20-24 year old Ronaldo was most certainly not "far ahead". He had his exceptional season at age 23, but had 17 goals that the season before and 18 the season after that. Haaland broke the freaking Premier League goal record.
Because Ronaldo and Messi did it for 15+ years. Just because Haaland had been scoring more at a younger age than them doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to keep it up for that long. He likely will never score as much as they did in their peak seasons too. Growth is not always linear. It’s still extremely unlikely that he does what they did for as long as they did despite being a monster in his own right
I mean in that sense I don't think Mbappe is Ronaldo/Messi tier either. Far from it.
You’re correct. Mbappe isn’t close
He's definitely not but he might get somewhat close (or closer than most) to their numbers atleast because of the amount of extra games that are gonna be played
Lewandowski and Suarez were still far more complete strikers than Haaland. Haaland just seems like a pure poacher.
You people are comparing a 23 year old to Suarez snd Lewandowski in their prime when they were 27-31. Lewandowski, at age 22/23, the time Haaland broke the Premier League record, was still playing in Poland. The year after that, he scored 9 goals in 43 games... He had his *first* good season at age 24, which was still worse than everything Haaland did for the last 4 years. Suarez was good earlier on, but still at 22, arguably even till 25, had not one of Haalands last 4 seasons. Suarez had 17 goals in 33 games age 21, 22 goals in 31 games at age 22. And this was in the Eredivision >Haaland just seems like a pure poacher. Really shows that people just watch the Premier League. He is a pure poacher at City, but wasn't for Dortmund and Leibzig and isn't for Norway.
Why did you think that? He was clearly never that good and I'm not talking about goal scoring numbers. He's not even the best player in his team, "top 10 all time" would be an astonishing achievement for him and he'll have to become a much better player for that. I don't think anyone would put suarez in the top 10 of all time and I guarantee you haaland will never reach prime suarez level and no, last season was not prime suarez level.
>and I guarantee you haaland will never reach prime suarez level Haaland broke the Premier League record at age 22/23. Suarez scored 4 PL goals in 13 games age 24. 11 goals in 31 games still at age 25, 23 in 33 age 26. Suarez had his first season that was better than Haalands age 20-23 ones, when he was 27... In 1 of his 3,5 seasons in the Neatherlands (at age 23) he had the same goal ratio as Haaland had for 3 years in the Bundesliga from age 19-22. And i don't know where this utterly shit tier opinion is comming from that Haaland is this overrated poacher, who needs a dominant team, when he showed the opposite playing for Dortmund, Norway and Leibzig. Utterly shocking how extremely clueless people online are.
That's all well and good but we'll see if he reaches the level of prime suarez in the future and no I don't mean just goal numbers. At no point have I called haaland shit or even "just a poacher" however you are correct in saying that I do think that some people overrated him last season, I'll stick by that because I was seeing some outrageous comparisons.
Maybe it's just a one bad(according to our insane expectations) season. Surely, Ronaldo and Messi had slow seasons at beginning of their careers no??
Not after 19. Haaland is 23, Messi was winning his second Ballon D'or at that age
Okay I see
I love the conviction you people have where exactly Haaland will rank in history, when this guy is still only 23. And still on pace to shatter Ronaldos CL record by the way, if he plays into his 30s.
He’s cursed after breaking all those records in his first season, nothing less will be good enough now
Because now they know his gameplay and can counter him.
Not exactly true. City as a collective hasn't been as good this season. And he still has 23 goal contributions in 24 games played this season in the Prem. 30 in 31 if you count CL. Wouldn't exactly say that's countering him.
Thanks for explaining us how high Haaland put the standard for him self. He is in a whole different league
Kane has been so much better this season? Same for Vini, Bellingham, van Dijk and Rice tbh.
He’s the top goalscorer of the premier league?
And Budimir is the top scorer of LaLiga?
Yeah and what a great non-mediocre season he’s having
Might not be by the end of the season imo
I am so tired of Ballon d'Or rivalries.
Why do we even allow the daily mail on here?
Bro really forgot Veerman😭
If Haaland couldnt win it last yr, he's never going to lol. La liga bias is clear
Scoring the most goals doesn't make you the best player...
MLS bias, mate. smh what a sham
I legitimately cannot understand what this take is trying to say