There are still 11 months to go in 2009 but you can safely say Lionel Messi has every intention of running away with World Player of the Year honors this year.
His latest display of amazing skill helped lead Barcelona to another romp, this time a 4-1 drubbing of Numancia on Saturday in a match that went into halftime scoreless. Messi scored two, assisted on a third and hit the crossbar for what could have been a hat-trick. The victory helped keep Barcelona's lead atop La Liga at 12 points. Yes, that's right, 12 points.
If you missed Messi's display, here is the better of his two goals:
If you have a little extra time, you can see full match highlights here.
So tell me, is there any argument that Messi is the best player in the world? With all due respect to reigning award winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi is playing on a different level from any other player in the world right now.
What do you think of Messi latest display? Share your thoughts below.
It doesn’t take a genuis to understand that the EPL is of higher quality that La Liga. Barca might be a strong side this year, and Messi maybe having the best year he’s ever had, but he isn’t going it against EPL level players night in and night out. Messi is a great player playing in a weak league end of story. And I for one think Barca is a fruad, they will be exposed in the Champs League…..
He is both the best and most entertaining player in the world at the moment.
Go on messi!
Ronaldo who?
C.Ronaldo is better in the air and free kicks, but Messi is better on the ball and outworks everyone. I’d rather have Messi. But I’d also note that Dani Alves is playing out of his mind lately. Alves and Messi on the same side of the field isn’t fair.
Even if they are close, you have to pick Messi over C. Ronaldo because Messi isnt the biggest tool bag in professional sports like his counterpart…
Very timely post, Ives. But I have to say, his goal against Deportivo last week was way more impressive than this one. Messi is the best forward in the world right now, hands down. When he’s on the field it’s like a man playing amongst boys. He’s playing on an entirely different level right now, much like C. Ronaldo was last year. Unbelievable pace and ball control… a deadly combination. It seems like he has developed more power on his shots as well.
Messi, Dani Alves, Eto’o, and Xavi have all been playing out their minds this season. Very exciting to watch and it will be interesting to see how far they can go in the Champions League.
Messi can play on my team, if he wants. But, I don’t really like him as a player. He is a non-stop dynamo with choppy feet and a short stride. I find most of his hard work rather unpleasant to watch, although his productivity is truly something to behold.
sorry, just got a chance to watch the clip. while it was pretty, it was also bad defending (X3) and poor goalkeeping. Barca is fun to watch right now, they’re in great form and play nice attacking football, but they’re hardly doing it against great competition most of the time. this was Numancia, for pete’s sake, a new member of the La Liga yo-yo ranks. yes, they beat Barca at home to start the season, but how many points have Numancia taken on the road this season? that would be 3. at relegation-bound Espanyol. the Wizards have a higher average home attendance than CD Numancia. more people watched this game at Camp Nou than have seen Numancia at home all season long. Camp Nou was half full, despite wanting revenge for the earlier loss, 50,000 people who normally show for Barca games had better things to do on a Saturday. it was by 12,000 the smallest crowd of the year for Barca. gorgeous to watch, but men against boys. Barca is living a charmed existence right now, and we can only hope it holds up through the spring. they are in form, have a weakened league to romp in (although La Liga always improves in the spring) have no injuries to speak of, and have the easiest round of 16 UCL draw.
just want to say thanks to ives for the postings today.. and the goals of Messi and the “other guy” at Milan. You seem to read our minds about the kinds of stuff we like to see/read about. ThankYou Thank You Thank You.
Mes que un Club!! Viva Barca, Viva Messi, sos grande!!!!
There’s no question that Messi is the best right now. Even thou he’s not the only one scoring at Barca, I feel he’s the main reason he, Eto’o and Henry have scored more than the whole Real Madrid.
Ronaldo can sometimes disappear, like last weekend against Tottenham, where he did nothing. Messi, on the other hand, seems to always impact Barcelona’s game.
My only complaint about Messi and Barca is that they are too good. I don’t want to watch their games anymore. They are going to score 3 to 5 goals and the other team maybe one. It’s really quite boring. I rather watch Atletico struggle or Sevilla, especially now that Teemu Pukki made his debut. EL PUKI!
And to nad: if Howard is going to stop Messi, he better improve from last weekend :-). What was he doing?
Eto’o is having a tremendous season, but the idea that he’s more important to barca’s success than mesi is just silly. The stats make this point too. Eto’o has 20 goals and two assists for barca in all competitions this season, while Messi has 23 goals and 11 assists.
Tim Howard can stop Messi, we saw that last time USA played Argentina
🙂
Right now Vidic might be the best player in the world.
Jig,
My comments are my opinions based on my quality of play and quality of player evaluations which appear to differ from those of most of the posters to this blog. I don’t think Messi has ever carried any of his teams to anything yet. If he continues at his current pace and helps his team win major hardware I think he has a chance to be player of the year. I simply think that we should let the year play out before annointing him.
Pep is playing a huge role-I was Rijkaard’s biggest fan but I’m equally as excited about Pep. He’s instilled a new sense of purpose in this team and has disallowed ANY semblance of complacency-they beat teams 5-0 and he’s criticizing aspects of his teams play after the game-imploring them to finish better, move the ball more quickly, defend more tactically-which is frankly tremendous and the players have responded. The rotation that he has implimented has also paid dividends keeping the players both fresh and hungry.
Frankly, Barca is a class above everyone in La Liga and anyone in Europe right now-I just hope they can stay healthy because this is going to be an exciting Spring.
Wow…don’t follow La Liga enough, how much of a role is the Guardiola palying in the Barca resurgence?
that haircut he finally got is doing wonders for him!
Ronaldo is a more “total player” are you kidding me? I’ve heard a lot of people make substantive arguments for Ronaldo but I can’t say I’ve ever heard that one-that’s a joke I hope. When has Ronaldo ever tackled ANYONE? Do you know what a total player is? It’s Xavi.
Also, there are 6 teams of quality in England-EVERY team in Spain can win on a given night-look at Mallorca today beating Valencia. When’s the last time WBrom or Stoke beat one of the top 4-so the EPL centric stuff is just plain rubbish.
If you kick him enough he can be stopped.
You need to point out that Barca has 63 goals for, and 14 against — a mind-numbing 49 goal differential!!!
I feel sorry for the EPL-centric who haven’t been focusing on Messi until recently. They’ve missed over three years now of a player we’ll be telling our grandchildren about.
hmmm, did that ever look like Diego 🙂
There’s just no one competing with him right now. Ronaldo and Torres were both injured for a while, so when they do the voting, Messi should have a lot larger body of work to look at. Kaka and Ronaldinho simply aren’t as good as they have been, while Messi just might be playing the best he ever has.
The goal scoring of Eto’o will likely make him a finalist, but Messi could run away with all of the awards next year just like Ronaldo did this year.
Messiiiii
As a Barcelona supporter, I can tell that you are wrong, Zach.
Barca’s two biggest playmakers on offense, are Messi and Dani Alves. Messi’s ability in particular, is astonishing in light of the fact that he is typically double teamed.
Dani Alves was critical in getting Barca flowing as a team again. Eto’o has largely just been the beneficiary of great passes, and pin-point crosses. He is certainly playing better than last year though, I will give you that.
Moving back to Messi: I largely think that while Ronaldo’s statistical year in 2008 certainly earned him the award for player of the year, we are undoubtedly living in the era of Messi. In terms of raw ability, no one comes close to Messi. His footwork and speed are unmatched on this planet. On his second goal against Numancia, he essentially took a scalpel and cut a line through their defense.
– Scott
popone,
why do you think that cristiano is better than messi? I’m not necessarily saying that he isnt i’d just love to hear your justification.
Let’s see how the rest of his season and European Champions League play go before we declare him the world’s best on short term performance. Also, in response to your question about any argument that Lionel is the best player in the world, I believe that Cristiano is a simply a better total player than Lionel and I believe that he plays in a better, more competitive league.
Sure, but he’s also playing in a pretty weak defensive league. Barca aside, La Liga just isn’t much this year, especially with the turmoil at Real. Their only test this year is UCL.
Zach, you’re off the mark and missing the point. This post is about MESSI-the best player in the world right now. If it were about Barca’s success, the article would be about the team-Eto’o included.
That said, I think you’re also wrong if you think Barca’s success is more attributed to Eto’o then Messi. If you have ever watched Barca play you would see that Messi is so dangerous that he opens up the field of play for Eto’o and Henry, sets them up for goals w/ brilliant passes, and wreaks havoc on defenses w/ his driblling-I’m taking nothing away from Eto’o, he’s a cracking footballer, definetly top 3 #9s in the world-but he’s not Messi-no one is!
gotta disagree, Zach. Messi is the beating heart of that Barca team, much like Ronaldinho was circa 2004-05. Without him, they’re not even close to the level they’re playing at now.
Messi is playing out of his mind, and he is only made better by the superb play of Alves down the right. They complement each other perfectly.
I hate how everybody credits Barcelona’s success with Messi. People fail to realise that the heart of the attack is actually Eto’o. When he was out last year Barca weren’t the same and now he is in form and they’re sizzling. Still all credit goes to Messi not Eto’o despite even winning games for Barca like against Real Madrid.
We can only hope one day Messi will step up to play at the level of Americans such as Eddie Johnson, Taylor Twellman and Josh Wolfe! lol
holy crap! ridiculous goal. he’s the jackie chan of soccer.
I think Messi also plays with more dynamic players. Henry, Eto’o, Bojan are playing at a high level. Even a defender like Dani Alves is exciting to watch.
No offense against United, but I could watch Barca play all day. The pace and movement on and off the ball is a pleasure to watch. Everyone is involved and I can’t say the same when MUTD plays. Their game is a bit uglier, but the English game in itself is of that nature. I think Ronaldo might be thinking about a move for the sheer fact that winning everything there has become stagnant to his growth as a player.