Lionel Messi

The Difference Between Messi And Ronaldo, Put Into One Word By Dani Alves

“The question of our times” is often thrown around at bars, universities, and kitchen tables between drunks, scholars, friends, and you and me. It might might take different forms, but its nature is always the same: it’s a question that we all have an answer to, but to which there is no real answer. 

There isn’t really a universal question of our times, but there are specific ones in specific areas. In football, there is no debate about what that question is: Messi or Ronaldo, who is better?

The 10 Times Lionel Messi Utterly Embarrassed A Great Player

Messi f***s people up. He runs around a pitch for 90 minutes and performs acts of greatness with a ball at his feet until he makes entire stadiums chant his name, and what’s left in his wake is the stuff of YouTube legend. I don’t think there’s a more viral athlete in the world than Lionel Messi; he might be the first of all time. 

The man destroys people, and then the world makes fun of them. 

The 10 Times Lionel Messi Utterly Embarrassed A Great Player 11

1. Marcelo. That is all.

Marcelo is one of the top two left-backs in the world. He and David Alaba are fighting it out for the crown right now, even though Alaba has been deployed everywhere this side of striker by Pep Guardiola for Bayern Munich. The thing is, Marcelo has a major handicap: he plays against Lionel Messi, who primarily attacks the left side of defenses.

The 10 Times Lionel Messi Utterly Embarrassed A Great Player 8

4. G** D*** IT, NANI! YOU HAD ONE JOB!

Joining Vidic during that 2011 Champions League Final was Nani, who loves dancing on the ball as if he were playing Dance Dance Revolution. The problem back then was that he didn’t really have much of a chance to dance because, well, Barcelona always had the ball, and let’s just say his defense lacks the same enthusiasm. 

In the lead up to Barcelona’s third goal, Nani was Manchester United’s first line of defense. It didn’t go well.    

The 10 Times Lionel Messi Utterly Embarrassed A Great Player 5

7. Messi sold a dream and Yaya Toure bought it. 

Yaya Toure used to be good at defending. No really, he was. Back in his Barcelona days he was just about the most promising all-round midfielder in the world, meaning he could attack just as well as he could defend. 

At Manchester City, that balance has apparently skewed towards the offensive side of things.

Pages