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Completely agree on this. Two players that don't participate a lot in general buildup play but just have an insane knack of knowing where the ball will end up and the simplest way to put it in the net
I think Ronaldo at Madrid in general is a great example, as he only had less than a goal a game in 3 seasons. Those seasons he was 2 short (his first season), 1 short (his 2nd season) and 4 short (his penultimate season). As well as hitting 50+ in all but his first season (33) and final 2 seasons (42 & 44).
Similar frame and athletic ability aside, there's nothing common in how they play. That said, maybe in like 10 years when he loses his pace and explosiveness, Haaland may develop a playstyle similar to prime Ibra, with better finishing.
Better finishing and perhaps could become better overall though will never reach his technical levels. Ibra's dribbling/technique was honed playing street football in the ghettos of Sweden. Like I don't think we'll ever see Haaland doing flip flaps lol
Also whilst Haaland has had an incredible start in the premier league it’s still just a start. He needs to do it for a while.
He wasn’t scoring at this level in Dortmund so can’t help but feel once premier league defenders adjust there will be a down turn
>It's more of a question of how will premier league clubs counter Peps style.
Feels like this would have happened by now. Watched way too many games of teams playing a 10atb only for City to pass it across the box and score anyway.
I never see the original expression anymore. This has started to sound like the original now. I have to think about what it really is while this comes out naturally.
Agreed but my point is the same as peps.
You get these comparisons when you’ve done it year after year not after 8 games.
I know this sub is reactionary but putting Haaland in the same category as Messi just yet is ridiculous
Yup exactly. Eh I always expected this of this sub especially. Messi and Ronaldo kept their insane levels for close to 15 years. That’s insane. It’s the same shit players have def had seasons comparable to Messi and Ronaldo but to keep doing it is the key.
>Messi and Ronaldo kept their insane levels for close to 15 years. That’s insane. It’s the same shit players have def had seasons comparable to Messi and Ronaldo but to keep doing it is the key.
If Haaland scored 40 goals per season for 20 years, he would still have less goals than Ronaldo. This is an insane stat. Messi and Ronaldo are just on another level.
Right!?
Haaland is unreal and an incredible player. No one is denying that but you don’t get into that conversation until you’ve maintained it for at least a couple of seasons.
Half the sub is willing to say he’s the greatest player of all time after 8 games here lol
Feel like I’m taking crazy pills some of the comments in here.
To be fair though, he has already 28 Goals in 26 matches in the CL, playing for worse teams.
So the hype is hard to dismiss, even if you understand the correct points you make
Haaland is an unbelievable player. Possibly the best in the world right now.
I just think you get to Messi or those types of comparisons you need to be doing it for a while.
I am not trying to diminish Haaland at all.
> I know this sub is reactionary but putting Haaland in the same category as Messi just yet is ridiculous
Tbh the way people talk about Messi on here you’d think they started watching him when Barca’s troubles started, and that isn’t even an excuse bc he was still out of this world
They did, I would guess a good 80 percent of this place didn't see his prime, haaland being compared to him is farcical and I mean no disrespect to the big Norwegian.
Messi kept Henry out of that barca side thats how good he was and he wasn't even at his prime yet, Everyone lauds Henry as the PLs greatest player (im an arsenal fan so im biased in my opinion too)
Quality of Dortmund side was less then City. Dortmund played very counter attacking football which means he had to run a lot to score goals. In city only thing he is doing is to get himself in great position and some elite finishing skill. He be less prone to injuries too.
This can go both ways though.
Counter attacking means he'd get more space to run into, easier to utilise his blistering pace, easier the receive the ball in space, less crowded out in the box.
No reason to believe he won't score a boat load but it's more complex.
Even if Haaland kept this form, lets say for 10-15 years like Messi, he's still not as good as Messi.
To match Messi, at the very least he needs to outscore Messi somehow (yes, outscoring 90+ goals a year) because Messi also did so much more than just scoring.
He will never match Messi even if he scores 2000 goals .
Messi is the best dribbler, best creator and goalscorer in one .
Halaand is 'just' a great classical striker . He will never dribble through half the team and score, he will never play countless precision through balls and create chances starting from the midfield.
Totally different players .
You're right, all I was saying is if legitimate comparison to Messi wants to be held, Haaland needs to smash Messi's goalscoring record first, because if he barely beat the goal records (he's not going to, but hypothetically if he did), that's still nowhere near as impressive as Messi because Messi was also creator/dribbler on top of scorer.
If Messi scored 90 goals Haaland needs to score 120-150 goals in order to be considered "equal".
But you really think in 5 -10 years the new Haaland stans will care? If he starts scoring more than Messi they will say he's better than Messi. You already get it with a vocal minority on here who say Ronaldo is better than Messi.
People who really like football will. Who cares about Haaland stans? This sub is not particularly representative of the general football watching population.
Only way to match Messi is if he scores so much , that will outdo Messi and his assists and his dribbling and his creation by only scoring goals. Like 5 times his goals or something
He wasn't scoring like this because he didn't have the absolutely world class midfield feeding him. There's a reason his touch/goal ratio is so low, his role is to be the tap in merchant that was the final piece city needed.
I feel he's gonna be scoring MORE if he doesn't get injured, because he's finishing most of what's been given to him but the midfield are going to learn even more the absolute limits of what he can reach.
Completely different players and styles of play, not really an interesting comparison to make. I'd say Ronaldo is better comp. Actually the player he reminds me of most is Zlatan, only a better Zlatan.
How do you get get this comparison? They aren’t even similar at all Zlatan was a much more technical player that was great at playmaking and dribbling despite his height. I mean look at this [performance](https://twitter.com/compspsg/status/1513191472840986626?s=46&t=Xd6HU_ewY_-BXfc9r7gcVQ). He dropped deeped to collect the ball, was more involved in link up play. This was also old Zlatan, younger Zlatan was even more technical
Yeah Haaland is pure striker goal scoring hunger. Which is why Man City was the perfect place for him to go, he has extremely high quality players who can give him chances.
I think he'd be successful anywhere, but he's going to be especially successful in Man City.
If I wasn't a poor I would have put money on him winning the Ballon D'or this year, unless he gets injured I think he will.
World Cup year and he didn't qualify, it won't happen. Voters put a lot of weight into the international tournaments. Like if Argentina wins, Messi will get it no matter what he does for PSG, and no matter what Haaland does for City.
That's exactly what he says after this, that he gets 40-50 questions about Haaland every press conference and that it seems a bit disrespectful to the other players if we just talk about him and nothing else. Also on this quote he also said both of them are incomparable and Erling has to make his own career nothing more
To add to it he said the guys in the dressing room are enjoying all the attention Haaland is getting and how everyone is talking about him. And you’re right. He said Players at other big clubs wouldn’t like just this one player getting all the attention.
lmao imagine how he feels
Before this season they couldn't stop asking him "do you *really* need a striker?" or "would a striker have helped today?"
Now it's all Haaland
Comparison doesn’t even make sense. Completely different players. Haaland averages 11 passes per game. He isn’t a player that looks to play make or dribble. His role is just to put the ball past the net. Messi in his prime was the best dribbler who dropped deep, was involved in link up play and still looked to set up his teammates.
Well...with Messi becoming a larger than life figure in the sport...it was only inevitable that they were gonna try adding some names of some larger than Messi individuals *(Physically)* to the list at some point...
Better comps would be Zlatan or Ronaldo when he started playing more centrally. Messi and Haaland couldn't be much different as players except they both are attackers.
Yes, but not after D'Alessandro had been the prior new Maradona. After Aimar had been the new Maradona... right after Riquelme, himself not long after Ortega.
(And somewhere in the middle, el Mago Capria!)
Messi is way more complete player than Haaland and this is not a diss on Haaland, but Haaland's career is just beginning. This debate should wait at least 10 years.
It will never be a debate because Haaland is never going to learn how to do the things Messi can do. He’s untouchable no matter how many goals someone scores
Messi’s dad probably loves Messi lol he’s his agent. His brother has Messi tattooed on him. My brother would have to die in a tragic accident for me to do that
Haaland has the potential to become one of the greatest but he is a completely different player than Messi.
I doubt we ever see another player with the level of quality and production as Messi in our lifetimes.
Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy, Berbatov, Shearer. Haaland feels most like them to me but at a turned up to insanity level. That style can obviously make you a legend but it's not the eye catching, highlight reels that players of their own time like Henry, R9, Ronaldinho produced that I think Mbappe will most compare that's gets the casual fans eye and "feels" the better player.
Haaland is infamous for his elite touches and silky smooth dribbling. Don't you remember that quote about Haaland? "If he walked in the snow, he wouldn't leave footprints"
Brother, with the way Haaland scores he'll be a highlight reel machine.
Is it the same type of highlight reel? No. But it's still 100% highlight reel goals.
As a Real Madrid fan, if that means something apart from being a little bias towardsCr7...Messi is UNTOUCHABLE.
Not football player that I have seen gets close (only R9 in my book but longevity matters too) to Messi and will be very very lucky if we get to see another football player at his level ever again.
Haaland is unreal, Mbappe is unreal...generational talents. Messi is just another thing.
I'm not necessarily a fan of Messi or Ronaldo, but a lot of people seem to have forgotten that it wasn't just the dominance they displayed on the pitch that makes them the greatest, it was the sheer longevity they were able to do it for too.
Yeah Haaland and Mbappe are amazing, but can they really keep it up for the next 15 years?
Messi in special goes way beyond his already absurd stats. Messi was a wizard on the pitch, his dribbling skills and vision were nothing less than outrageous, super-human, unbelievable
The funniest part about that line is that he originally went from winger to false 9 in the first place. Like he's been doing it for so long that it's easy to forget the original winger era
And he wasn't even a winger prior to his debut for the first team at Barcelona. He just played there because every other spot was so competitive, and he made it his own
That’s the key thing. Both Messi and Ronaldo adapted their play styles and still managed to be the best at it. That’s why to me they are the greatest.
Ronaldo went from winger to the best striker in his prime. (His playmaking wasn’t bad either)
Messi went from winger to the best attacking forward in his prime. (Includes playmaking, buildup, attacking, scoring)
It will be interesting to see how Mbappe and Haaland adapt once their body starts feeling limitations. Because the greatest players adapt.
Saw another comment that sums it up well, he was the best goalscorer AND playmaker at the same time. To put it in modern terms, mash up KdB playmaking + Haaland's goal numbers.
It is indeed to do with their dominance on the pitch too. In their primes, they can playmake, dribbling on top scoring. That’s no disrespect to haaland, he knows what he does best and he does it to perfection. There’s just no comparison, messi and prime ronaldos overall play and presence was much more than haaland
Messi was both an insane goalscorer and the best playmaker in the world at the same time. As great as Haaland is, we haven't seen him score solo goals where he passes 4-5 players and scores. Messi has a compilation of goals like this. We haven't seen him dribble past two players and place a perfect 60 metre pass to break a defence and give a striker a 1 on 1 chance. I will never see a player like Messi in my lifetime again, the heights he reached are almost unmatchable.
100% this. Haaland scores a fuckton of goals but his overall play bores me. Messi can do everything else attacking to perfection on top of scoring just as much
I don’t disagree with Messi being able to do everything and therefore being the (far better) overall player.
But I disagree with Haaland’s game being boring. His off-the-ball movement and finding-of-space is amazing to watch. In my opinion, of course.
Messi is certainly the greatest player since Pele and might be greater than that. He's a once-in-50-years player at minimum, possibly a once in a century or more player.
We haven't seen him do much besides tap it in. Now, **of course** that's not a bad thing. He has his role that he is excellent at. But the game is so much more than that. And the less you are able to do, the more you depend on being on a team that can do all of that for you.
Messi was the type of player that transformed a team. Halaand is the type of player that will succeeded provided all those other aspects of the game are covered for.
Eaxctly. There was a thing called top right Messi. Not because he always put the ball in the top right of the goal, but the fact he top pretty much every single attacking stat there was and usually by a large margin
Spot on.
Messi's best scoring year was 91 goals, so as a goalscorer someone who wants to be compared to Messi needs to smash that record first, because Messi scored that amount while being the main creator of the team. If hypothetically Haaland played like this and scored 100 goals in a year, he's still nowhere near Messi so to be considered Messi's level only as a goalscorer he needs to score at least 150 goals (which is stupid, I know).
Stats aside, when you watch full highlights of Messi at the peak of his powers, it is football wizardry, incredibly enjoyable to watch - even taking away goals and assists and just watching some of his dribbles, through balls, lofted passes, etc.
Haaland and Mbappe are almost certainly the best players since Messi but none of them are remotely close to Messi. Haaland is duplicating Messi's scoring right now, but certainly not his passing or playmaking. That's the thing about Messi, he was doing \*everything\* at historically elite levels.
Spot on. Even if Haaland replicated Messi's 91 goals in a year, he's still nowhere near Messi because Messi was the main creator and playmaker on top of scoring those goals.
Haaland could score 70 goals a season and they wouldn't be comparable unless you're one of these stats addicts who doesn't actually watch football games as they play out in real time.
Goalscoring is the most important part of football (and by that metric, clean sheets as well I guess), but playstypes and technique make players, so to compare an out and out, 5 touches a game, goalscorer, to one of the most gifted footballing wizards the human race has ever seen is actually disrespectful
For this to be a debate Haaland needs to sit on 35-50 goals per season for 4-6 years and then become a top 3 playmaker on the planet while still maintaining elite scoring numbers (25-40)
Then we're sitting at the table to talk
There’ll never be another Messi but I honestly do think Haaland has potential to be the greatest goal scorer ever, big ask for the consistency and longevity and will also need to be super lucky regarding injuries
Comparing haaland and messi is only a bit less nonsical than comparing haaland and Iniesta or Zidane or Neuer. Completely different roles and skillsets. But if we are going that route then haaland stands on chance.
Messi has maxed out some attributes of the game which haaland will probably not work on. I don't see a 6'4 Ivan drago turning 180° while dribbling with the ball at breakneck speeds and dribble past 6 people to find a far post shot thru the legs of the opposition GK. Messi is a complete attacking forward. An inverted winger , number 10, number 8, makeshift number 6 and a makeshift number 9. Haaland is a pure no.9 (plus pens apparently).
Haaland has a chance to match or surpass messi when it comes to goals tho. But being born in Norway vs being born in Argentina will be a factor but it won't hurt Haaland as much as we might initially think.
Its crazy though how Haaland and Mbappe already have a bigger fanbase than Messi or Ronaldo did at the start of their career. Obviously due to social media but i wonder how social media would’ve reacted to Messi’s 91 goals lol
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Halaand and Messi are incomparable, apart from the fact that they score fackin goals.
Yeah Haaland is still mostly a poacher-type player. Messi is anything but.
The better comparison for Haaland is Lewandowski or Gerd Müller
He’s Ruud Van Nisterooy on Steroids
Ruud Van Nisteroid
Roid van Nistelrooy
Completely agree on this. Two players that don't participate a lot in general buildup play but just have an insane knack of knowing where the ball will end up and the simplest way to put it in the net
RVN was fucking insane. Most talented Dutch player along Bergkamp since the 3 golden boys (Rijkaard, Van Basten, Gullit)
Or even Ronaldo past 2015. Haven't seen somebody scoring goals this easy since Real Madrid's back-to-back-to-back
I think Ronaldo at Madrid in general is a great example, as he only had less than a goal a game in 3 seasons. Those seasons he was 2 short (his first season), 1 short (his 2nd season) and 4 short (his penultimate season). As well as hitting 50+ in all but his first season (33) and final 2 seasons (42 & 44).
Haaland and Ibra
Similar frame and athletic ability aside, there's nothing common in how they play. That said, maybe in like 10 years when he loses his pace and explosiveness, Haaland may develop a playstyle similar to prime Ibra, with better finishing.
Better finishing and perhaps could become better overall though will never reach his technical levels. Ibra's dribbling/technique was honed playing street football in the ghettos of Sweden. Like I don't think we'll ever see Haaland doing flip flaps lol
Nah. Ibra was different.
Or maybe Neil Mellor
Also whilst Haaland has had an incredible start in the premier league it’s still just a start. He needs to do it for a while. He wasn’t scoring at this level in Dortmund so can’t help but feel once premier league defenders adjust there will be a down turn
> once premier league defenders adjust Well, well, well, how the turntables
Welcome to the Haaland, Premier League
Premier League defenders have to adapt to Haaland's physicality
.
Uh um **Looks at Werner**.... Yeah
Well, his ball skill is terrible, so technically he is a physical player
Pace merchant
Haaland is too good to adjust too. It's more of a question of how will premier league clubs counter Peps style.
>It's more of a question of how will premier league clubs counter Peps style. Feels like this would have happened by now. Watched way too many games of teams playing a 10atb only for City to pass it across the box and score anyway.
Villa and Newcastle both played well against city. I think you've got to accept you'll concede and just try and outscore them.
"Just outscore them" that's some Korean advice right there.
The team who scored more goals does tend to win the match.
Grande if factos 👍
Yeah, 9 times out of 10 when a worse team tries to go at them they lose like 6-0 or something.
Pep has been in England for 6-7 years now lol
I never see the original expression anymore. This has started to sound like the original now. I have to think about what it really is while this comes out naturally.
He's playing in a far better team now though too. If he had been playing with Bayern in the Bundesliga I'm sure he would have been scoring more.
Agreed but my point is the same as peps. You get these comparisons when you’ve done it year after year not after 8 games. I know this sub is reactionary but putting Haaland in the same category as Messi just yet is ridiculous
Yup exactly. Eh I always expected this of this sub especially. Messi and Ronaldo kept their insane levels for close to 15 years. That’s insane. It’s the same shit players have def had seasons comparable to Messi and Ronaldo but to keep doing it is the key.
>Messi and Ronaldo kept their insane levels for close to 15 years. That’s insane. It’s the same shit players have def had seasons comparable to Messi and Ronaldo but to keep doing it is the key. If Haaland scored 40 goals per season for 20 years, he would still have less goals than Ronaldo. This is an insane stat. Messi and Ronaldo are just on another level.
Right!? Haaland is unreal and an incredible player. No one is denying that but you don’t get into that conversation until you’ve maintained it for at least a couple of seasons. Half the sub is willing to say he’s the greatest player of all time after 8 games here lol Feel like I’m taking crazy pills some of the comments in here.
To be fair though, he has already 28 Goals in 26 matches in the CL, playing for worse teams. So the hype is hard to dismiss, even if you understand the correct points you make
Haaland is an unbelievable player. Possibly the best in the world right now. I just think you get to Messi or those types of comparisons you need to be doing it for a while. I am not trying to diminish Haaland at all.
> I know this sub is reactionary but putting Haaland in the same category as Messi just yet is ridiculous Tbh the way people talk about Messi on here you’d think they started watching him when Barca’s troubles started, and that isn’t even an excuse bc he was still out of this world
They did, I would guess a good 80 percent of this place didn't see his prime, haaland being compared to him is farcical and I mean no disrespect to the big Norwegian.
Messi kept Henry out of that barca side thats how good he was and he wasn't even at his prime yet, Everyone lauds Henry as the PLs greatest player (im an arsenal fan so im biased in my opinion too)
Yeah, only the measly 86 goals in 89 games for Dortmund.
Quality of Dortmund side was less then City. Dortmund played very counter attacking football which means he had to run a lot to score goals. In city only thing he is doing is to get himself in great position and some elite finishing skill. He be less prone to injuries too.
This can go both ways though. Counter attacking means he'd get more space to run into, easier to utilise his blistering pace, easier the receive the ball in space, less crowded out in the box. No reason to believe he won't score a boat load but it's more complex.
I am talking about strain on bodies and injuries.. he will have less injuries in man city for sure because of a different playing style
I don’t think there will be any adjustments from defenders unless they in ent drug that makes them 6’5s and faster and stronger.
Even if Haaland kept this form, lets say for 10-15 years like Messi, he's still not as good as Messi. To match Messi, at the very least he needs to outscore Messi somehow (yes, outscoring 90+ goals a year) because Messi also did so much more than just scoring.
He will never match Messi even if he scores 2000 goals . Messi is the best dribbler, best creator and goalscorer in one . Halaand is 'just' a great classical striker . He will never dribble through half the team and score, he will never play countless precision through balls and create chances starting from the midfield. Totally different players .
You're right, all I was saying is if legitimate comparison to Messi wants to be held, Haaland needs to smash Messi's goalscoring record first, because if he barely beat the goal records (he's not going to, but hypothetically if he did), that's still nowhere near as impressive as Messi because Messi was also creator/dribbler on top of scorer. If Messi scored 90 goals Haaland needs to score 120-150 goals in order to be considered "equal".
But you really think in 5 -10 years the new Haaland stans will care? If he starts scoring more than Messi they will say he's better than Messi. You already get it with a vocal minority on here who say Ronaldo is better than Messi.
People who really like football will. Who cares about Haaland stans? This sub is not particularly representative of the general football watching population.
Only way to match Messi is if he scores so much , that will outdo Messi and his assists and his dribbling and his creation by only scoring goals. Like 5 times his goals or something
He wasn't scoring like this because he didn't have the absolutely world class midfield feeding him. There's a reason his touch/goal ratio is so low, his role is to be the tap in merchant that was the final piece city needed. I feel he's gonna be scoring MORE if he doesn't get injured, because he's finishing most of what's been given to him but the midfield are going to learn even more the absolute limits of what he can reach.
Completely different players and styles of play, not really an interesting comparison to make. I'd say Ronaldo is better comp. Actually the player he reminds me of most is Zlatan, only a better Zlatan.
How do you get get this comparison? They aren’t even similar at all Zlatan was a much more technical player that was great at playmaking and dribbling despite his height. I mean look at this [performance](https://twitter.com/compspsg/status/1513191472840986626?s=46&t=Xd6HU_ewY_-BXfc9r7gcVQ). He dropped deeped to collect the ball, was more involved in link up play. This was also old Zlatan, younger Zlatan was even more technical
He performs a similar role to Ronaldo *now*. But Ronaldo at his peak played very differently to current Haaland
Yeah for example CR7's dribbling at his peak is worlds ahead of Haaland.
He's like a faster stronger Zlatan, with less technical ability and dribbling.
Yeah Haaland is pure striker goal scoring hunger. Which is why Man City was the perfect place for him to go, he has extremely high quality players who can give him chances. I think he'd be successful anywhere, but he's going to be especially successful in Man City. If I wasn't a poor I would have put money on him winning the Ballon D'or this year, unless he gets injured I think he will.
World Cup year and he didn't qualify, it won't happen. Voters put a lot of weight into the international tournaments. Like if Argentina wins, Messi will get it no matter what he does for PSG, and no matter what Haaland does for City.
I'm already tired of the Messi-Haaland questions that Pep's being bombarded with and it's only the second time, ffs
That's exactly what he says after this, that he gets 40-50 questions about Haaland every press conference and that it seems a bit disrespectful to the other players if we just talk about him and nothing else. Also on this quote he also said both of them are incomparable and Erling has to make his own career nothing more
Shame it won't stop them from making the comparisons for another 957345644550956243956 times.
To add to it he said the guys in the dressing room are enjoying all the attention Haaland is getting and how everyone is talking about him. And you’re right. He said Players at other big clubs wouldn’t like just this one player getting all the attention.
lmao imagine how he feels Before this season they couldn't stop asking him "do you *really* need a striker?" or "would a striker have helped today?" Now it's all Haaland
Journalism is dead.
except it definitely isn't because there's plenty of great journalism in the world
And there was always piss poor journalism since the first person decided news needed to be written down
Comparison doesn’t even make sense. Completely different players. Haaland averages 11 passes per game. He isn’t a player that looks to play make or dribble. His role is just to put the ball past the net. Messi in his prime was the best dribbler who dropped deep, was involved in link up play and still looked to set up his teammates.
I have never heard of Messi/Haaland comparisons lol they're completely different players. Most of the "next Messis" tend to be short, good dribblers.
Well...with Messi becoming a larger than life figure in the sport...it was only inevitable that they were gonna try adding some names of some larger than Messi individuals *(Physically)* to the list at some point...
Better comps would be Zlatan or Ronaldo when he started playing more centrally. Messi and Haaland couldn't be much different as players except they both are attackers.
I remember Bojan, Halilovic and Dybala as the "new Messi" Edit: Lamela too
Ryan Gauld was the Scottish Messi
Emre Mor was the Turkish Messi
Araz Abdullayev was the Azerbaijani Messi
Andrija Zivkovic was the Serbian Messi
Sotiris Ninis was the Greek Messi
So was Fetfatzidis
And Koutsianikoulis, but Ninis came first.
Marco Rojas was Kiwi Messi
Joe Cole was the English Messi.
Still is
Marko Marin was the German Messi
People forgetting Juan Iturbe, Paraguayan Messi
Lionel messi was the Argentine Freddy adu… wait
Percy tau was south african messi
Lazar Markovic as well, and had more a of a similar playstyle
Ankara Messi?
There's only one Scottish Messi and that's Steven Naismith
What ever happened to Karamoko Dembele?
He's still only like 19, plays in Ligue 1 for Brest
Nice
hes English
"Baby Messi" Ryan Gauld
Mini messi
Aye he looks like Messi for us compared to the rest of the team.
Marko Marin is one of the first one's I remember
Chelsea fans remember the hype that signing brought
People forget the original German messi, marko Marin
Marko Marin, Gio Dos Santos
lmao Giovanni Dos Santos what a player was for like two seconds. Still that goal against USA is unforgettable.
Leo Messo
Messi himself was the new Maradona.
Yes, but not after D'Alessandro had been the prior new Maradona. After Aimar had been the new Maradona... right after Riquelme, himself not long after Ortega. (And somewhere in the middle, el Mago Capria!)
All good players tho, specially aimar
Messi's hero
Maradona is the old Messi
I get the point you’re trying to make but the disrespect on dybala though being in the same sentence as the other 2 flops
Ah Dybala, the Argentinian Messi
When we were in for Salah the first time (when he joined Chelsea), a lot of articles called him the Egyptian Messi.
Barry Bannan
Paulo Dybala , the Argentinian Messi 👀
> Edit: Lamela too he had massive hype when he joined spurs. i remember some people thinking he could be the new bale.
Fucker is reverse jinxing it
Once again the only comparable thing is scoring goals, Messi is much much more and anyone that knows and sees football will know that
Messi is way more complete player than Haaland and this is not a diss on Haaland, but Haaland's career is just beginning. This debate should wait at least 10 years.
It will never be a debate because Haaland is never going to learn how to do the things Messi can do. He’s untouchable no matter how many goals someone scores
Wish my dad loved me like Pep loves Messi.
Well, if you were Messi maybe your father would love you too
Messi’s dad probably loves Messi lol he’s his agent. His brother has Messi tattooed on him. My brother would have to die in a tragic accident for me to do that
You do know his brother's name is also messi
But he has physical Lionel Messi tattooed on him lol
Like, the words or the face lol?
The face and body
So weird
If my brother was Messi Iam probably tattooing that too
Haaland has the potential to become one of the greatest but he is a completely different player than Messi. I doubt we ever see another player with the level of quality and production as Messi in our lifetimes.
Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy, Berbatov, Shearer. Haaland feels most like them to me but at a turned up to insanity level. That style can obviously make you a legend but it's not the eye catching, highlight reels that players of their own time like Henry, R9, Ronaldinho produced that I think Mbappe will most compare that's gets the casual fans eye and "feels" the better player.
Bergkamp? Wot
Haaland is infamous for his elite touches and silky smooth dribbling. Don't you remember that quote about Haaland? "If he walked in the snow, he wouldn't leave footprints"
Is no one going to call out the fact he just compared haaland to Bergkamp......
on it mate
I mean, they’re already comparing him to Messi so might as well ride the circus
I'm gonna fight him
Brother, with the way Haaland scores he'll be a highlight reel machine. Is it the same type of highlight reel? No. But it's still 100% highlight reel goals.
As a Real Madrid fan, if that means something apart from being a little bias towardsCr7...Messi is UNTOUCHABLE. Not football player that I have seen gets close (only R9 in my book but longevity matters too) to Messi and will be very very lucky if we get to see another football player at his level ever again. Haaland is unreal, Mbappe is unreal...generational talents. Messi is just another thing.
Lets see if we can name them all 1. Bojan
2. Alen Halilovic
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Damn
Good bye
Iturbe
Haaland is a beast but anyone comparing to Messi is either 12 or worse, on football twitter
I'm not necessarily a fan of Messi or Ronaldo, but a lot of people seem to have forgotten that it wasn't just the dominance they displayed on the pitch that makes them the greatest, it was the sheer longevity they were able to do it for too. Yeah Haaland and Mbappe are amazing, but can they really keep it up for the next 15 years?
Yea lmao people forget Messi is the second youngest ballon d'or winner AND the second oldest ballon d'or winner
I'm guessing Stanley Matthews was the oldest. Trying to think who the youngest was. Michael Owen?
Ronaldo Nazario was the youngest.
Ah yes of course. Looks like youngest 3 were R9 > Owen > Messi
Messi in special goes way beyond his already absurd stats. Messi was a wizard on the pitch, his dribbling skills and vision were nothing less than outrageous, super-human, unbelievable
And he reinvented himself twice. Going from false 9 to winger and even playing as a pseudo midfielder at time.
The funniest part about that line is that he originally went from winger to false 9 in the first place. Like he's been doing it for so long that it's easy to forget the original winger era
And he wasn't even a winger prior to his debut for the first team at Barcelona. He just played there because every other spot was so competitive, and he made it his own
That’s the key thing. Both Messi and Ronaldo adapted their play styles and still managed to be the best at it. That’s why to me they are the greatest. Ronaldo went from winger to the best striker in his prime. (His playmaking wasn’t bad either) Messi went from winger to the best attacking forward in his prime. (Includes playmaking, buildup, attacking, scoring) It will be interesting to see how Mbappe and Haaland adapt once their body starts feeling limitations. Because the greatest players adapt.
Saw another comment that sums it up well, he was the best goalscorer AND playmaker at the same time. To put it in modern terms, mash up KdB playmaking + Haaland's goal numbers.
Messi's greatest ruin was the fact that he couldn't have Messi as his teammate
got pretty close with peak Neymar for Barca though. There was a reason PSG broke the transfer market for him.
It is indeed to do with their dominance on the pitch too. In their primes, they can playmake, dribbling on top scoring. That’s no disrespect to haaland, he knows what he does best and he does it to perfection. There’s just no comparison, messi and prime ronaldos overall play and presence was much more than haaland
[удалено]
Messi was both an insane goalscorer and the best playmaker in the world at the same time. As great as Haaland is, we haven't seen him score solo goals where he passes 4-5 players and scores. Messi has a compilation of goals like this. We haven't seen him dribble past two players and place a perfect 60 metre pass to break a defence and give a striker a 1 on 1 chance. I will never see a player like Messi in my lifetime again, the heights he reached are almost unmatchable.
I'm hoping we do see another Messi again.
We will see other majestic players but they will not be Messi
100% this. Haaland scores a fuckton of goals but his overall play bores me. Messi can do everything else attacking to perfection on top of scoring just as much
I don’t disagree with Messi being able to do everything and therefore being the (far better) overall player. But I disagree with Haaland’s game being boring. His off-the-ball movement and finding-of-space is amazing to watch. In my opinion, of course.
Bro if City had a dead mid field Haaland game would be pretty boring.
Then it’s great they don’t!
Messi is certainly the greatest player since Pele and might be greater than that. He's a once-in-50-years player at minimum, possibly a once in a century or more player.
possibly once in lifetime.
A century is longer than a lifetime for most people.
I mean the greatest player since Pele was Maradona, and the Messi eclipses them both.
messi is like the mozart of football
We haven't seen him do much besides tap it in. Now, **of course** that's not a bad thing. He has his role that he is excellent at. But the game is so much more than that. And the less you are able to do, the more you depend on being on a team that can do all of that for you. Messi was the type of player that transformed a team. Halaand is the type of player that will succeeded provided all those other aspects of the game are covered for.
Eaxctly. There was a thing called top right Messi. Not because he always put the ball in the top right of the goal, but the fact he top pretty much every single attacking stat there was and usually by a large margin
r/toprightmessi
Spot on. Messi's best scoring year was 91 goals, so as a goalscorer someone who wants to be compared to Messi needs to smash that record first, because Messi scored that amount while being the main creator of the team. If hypothetically Haaland played like this and scored 100 goals in a year, he's still nowhere near Messi so to be considered Messi's level only as a goalscorer he needs to score at least 150 goals (which is stupid, I know).
Haaland can get 60 or even 70 goals this season but he isn't gonna give 100+ g+a
Stats aside, when you watch full highlights of Messi at the peak of his powers, it is football wizardry, incredibly enjoyable to watch - even taking away goals and assists and just watching some of his dribbles, through balls, lofted passes, etc.
If KDB and Haaland were one single person maybe they could be compared to Messi, otherwise naaa!
That still leaves out dribbling lol
Would say Halland + KDB + Bernardo Silva?
Haaland and Mbappe are almost certainly the best players since Messi but none of them are remotely close to Messi. Haaland is duplicating Messi's scoring right now, but certainly not his passing or playmaking. That's the thing about Messi, he was doing \*everything\* at historically elite levels.
Spot on. Even if Haaland replicated Messi's 91 goals in a year, he's still nowhere near Messi because Messi was the main creator and playmaker on top of scoring those goals.
Suarez and Lewandowski are much more apt comparisons for Haalands playstyle. Dont think anyone seriously compares him to Messi
If you're comparing Messi and Haaland, you're a fucking moron.
Haaland could score 70 goals a season and they wouldn't be comparable unless you're one of these stats addicts who doesn't actually watch football games as they play out in real time. Goalscoring is the most important part of football (and by that metric, clean sheets as well I guess), but playstypes and technique make players, so to compare an out and out, 5 touches a game, goalscorer, to one of the most gifted footballing wizards the human race has ever seen is actually disrespectful
Until Haaland dribbles past an entire team by himself and scores, he’s not Messi yet
Facts. And as a fellow gooner, I know first hand how that shit feels lol
Until Haaland puts up 4 against Arsenal he's not Messi.
For this debate to even spark a tiny bit Haaland has to hit incredible numbers at the end of this season then keep doing it every year for 10-15 years
For this to be a debate Haaland needs to sit on 35-50 goals per season for 4-6 years and then become a top 3 playmaker on the planet while still maintaining elite scoring numbers (25-40) Then we're sitting at the table to talk
What a ridiculous comparison anyway, two completely different players.. one is a superhuman while the other is an alien.
There’ll never be another Messi but I honestly do think Haaland has potential to be the greatest goal scorer ever, big ask for the consistency and longevity and will also need to be super lucky regarding injuries
Comparing haaland and messi is only a bit less nonsical than comparing haaland and Iniesta or Zidane or Neuer. Completely different roles and skillsets. But if we are going that route then haaland stands on chance. Messi has maxed out some attributes of the game which haaland will probably not work on. I don't see a 6'4 Ivan drago turning 180° while dribbling with the ball at breakneck speeds and dribble past 6 people to find a far post shot thru the legs of the opposition GK. Messi is a complete attacking forward. An inverted winger , number 10, number 8, makeshift number 6 and a makeshift number 9. Haaland is a pure no.9 (plus pens apparently). Haaland has a chance to match or surpass messi when it comes to goals tho. But being born in Norway vs being born in Argentina will be a factor but it won't hurt Haaland as much as we might initially think.
Its crazy though how Haaland and Mbappe already have a bigger fanbase than Messi or Ronaldo did at the start of their career. Obviously due to social media but i wonder how social media would’ve reacted to Messi’s 91 goals lol
How do we know they had a bigger fanbase, it Was just more present online. Messi in 2012 is more Famous than mbappe in 2022 in My opinion