The GOAT continues to rewrite football history

[Smartvirus]

I wouldn’t even argue with the Ronaldo and Messi fans. Most are fanatics and hype everything their “GOAT” does. Personally, I think Messi and Ronaldo are two special players and I have enjoyed watching them play all these years. IMO this World Cup doesn’t necessarily determine who the better player is, the fact that they are still performing at this age shows that they are both built different.

Would agree with you on this every other day. They are both special players and some of the very best in what they do that football has ever have to offer since they are still playing. You can’t necessarily like football without enjoying how they both play, their individual quality and handling of the ball.
Trying to always put one ahead of the other would create some resentment like I find in most of the fanatics that would be out there, wishing one of them underperforms in a game so the other person looks better.
In the end, this is football, it’s what we all come out to watch, to see something spectacular and worth the time we give it, to be entertained and they do just fine.

[SatoPrincess]

I wouldn’t even argue with the Ronaldo and Messi fans. Most are fanatics and hype everything their “GOAT” does. Personally, I think Messi and Ronaldo are two special players and I have enjoyed watching them play all these years. IMO this World Cup doesn’t necessarily determine who the better player is, the fact that they are still performing at this age shows that they are both built different.

Would agree with you on this every other day. They are both special players and some of the very best in what they do that football has ever have to offer since they are still playing. You can’t necessarily like football without enjoying how they both play, their individual quality and handling of the ball.
Trying to always put one ahead of the other would create some resentment like I find in most of the fanatics that would be out there, wishing one of them underperforms in a game so the other person looks better.
In the end, this is football, it’s what we all come out to watch, to see something spectacular and worth the time we give it, to be entertained and they do just fine.

I just saw a clip of whatever show it was on Netflix where Gary, Alan, and Patrick Vieira were talking about Ronaldo’s performance in the World Cup and how his legacy will be spoilt if he fails to deliver in this WC. It’s silly really. I find it impossible to watch when former players now pundits are criticizing players who have achieved far more success than they did.

What’s this propaganda of Portugal is a better side without Ronaldo?

[Smartvirus]

I just saw a clip of whatever show it was on Netflix where Gary, Alan, and Patrick Vieira were talking about Ronaldo’s performance in the World Cup and how his legacy will be spoilt if he fails to deliver in this WC. It’s silly really. I find it impossible to watch when former players now pundits are criticizing players who have achieved far more success than they did.

What’s this propaganda of Portugal is a better side without Ronaldo?

It’s really funny how it always seems like the easiest thing to do, how they easily lay it out there, having to analyze every pass, every positioning, every runs and more, make it look so easy and how they would have done it but, they had a whole career to present themselves to be anything but special and never did. They forget the team work that is needed for any team to go through, they never see all of that because they are now pundits and can do some damage off the pitch, I really never take them seriously.

[alegotardo]

Lionel Messi has shown to the world once again for the outmost time and being the only player to have participated in the FIFA world cup 6th times, at thirty-eight (38) years he has once again showed why he should be considered as the Greatest player of all-time (GOAT) with an outstanding performance of 9.4 rating, 80 minutes played, 3 goals scored and 5 shots against Algeria before walking off the pitch with the Man of the Match (MOTM) award once again.

Lionel Messi  (The GOAT) has also again shows that he still has it and should never be compared to any player in the world because there has never been and will never be any player on earth that will or will ever be better than Lionel Messi, there is also no player on earth that holds individual award than Lionel Messi and there will never be.

The result and performance of theis current FIFA world cup should end the debate and comparison of messi with any other player. Congratulations to the GOAT on securing the Argentine side with a victory and a bargged 3 point

Did you forget about Pelé!?
FIFA itself recognizes that he is the only player to win thre World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970... and in two of them he was the main protagonist.
source

Furthermore, FIFA states that Pelé is the youngest goalscorer of the history, the youngest finalist in the World Cup and also the youngest to score in a final of history of the World Cup.
source

I agree that Messi is a giant player, but he will never be able to erase Pelé, who was the greatest football player of the world has ever had in an era when football was much more difficult than it is today, starting by the boots that weighed approximately half a kilogram... and today?

Anyway, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you seem to be more like a fanatic fan than someone who sees the facts.

[SatoPrincess]

I agree that Messi is a giant player, but he will never be able to erase Pelé, who was the greatest football player of the world has ever had in an era when football was much more difficult than it is today, starting by the boots that weighed approximately half a kilogram... and today?

Why does one have to replace the other? Why can’t we have same love and respect for the greats of the game? It’s a good thing players don’t retire jersey numbers in football because I’m sure some fans will be calling for their favorite player to have his number retired.

[Mr_Brilliant$]

Lionel Messi is undoubtedly a great player based on how he typically handles the ball, making something meaningful with it while causing chaos for his opponent, and I'm happy for him being the 38years old player who participated in the World Cup 6times. However, his accomplishment is still incomplete if he does not win the 2026 World Cup.

Messi is the GOATED, no doubt about that man..  I am happy for him as well, bruh..
For me regardless of him winning the 2026 World Cup or not, I would say his accomplishments are already complete.. He has done enough and achieved things most players are dreaming of.. I hope he win the cup though, but winning another World Cup would be amazing and add even more to his achievements..

[Bright0515]

Isn't this just an over-hype. Don't get me wrong, I love Messi. He is one of my fav players of all time. And yes, I consider him the GOAT because of his numerous achievements. But you can't say he is undisputed because of just this one game. Let's see his overall performance in the tournament before we jump into conclusions.

Maybe Algeria is a bad matchup for him, and he completely dominated because the game was in his favor (didn't watch the game BTW). So let's not just use this 1 game to draw our conclusions.

I also think he is over hyped as well, and one reason why I think people just want to overhype is because they are supporters and they use this as a comparison between him and Ronaldo. Messi has achieved a lot and so does his rival, this will forever remain a tough debate among football fans. I didn't watch the game as well to know what the hype is about, the world is not over yet. The main reason why he is being overhyped is just because he outplayed Ronaldo which doesn't really make any sense to me when he hasn't won the trophy.

[OsaiEmma]

There is something missing in that term GOAT. I have been hearing and seen the term referring to a great player but the P is Missing in the acronym. If GOAT stand as Great PLAYER Of All Time, where is the P in the GOAT? Well Messi is great player. He played well and took the World Cup in 2022 and the way they started the opening match, they will play the final with France.

Actually, it means Greatest Of All Time, no "Player" there. This term is used in every sphere of life not just football. And that is why there is no 'P' in it.

~snip

Regardless of the team they played against, he has proven himself once again to be the greatest footballer of all time. This is not about hype, it is about reality, his performance at this age is superb and he scored three goals in one single match, I don't like joining the conversation of who is better between him and Ronaldo, because I know that both of them have talent and they have individual brilliance even though they play in different position, but with this performance against Algeria, I believed that Messi is the greatest footballer of all time, and I will not be surprised if he lead Argentina to another world cup quarterfinal or semifinal again this year.

We should be expecting more of good performance from Messi, and also from Ronaldo because I will expect an impressive performance from Ronaldo in their next match because they need to win their next match to qualify to the knockout stage of this tournament.

I can't believe you'll use just this single game to say that. And its against who, Algeria of all teams to come to this conclusion. That doesn't make sense to me. Now lemme give you a run down of their stats:

Argentina:
Rankings: 1st
World cup appearance:89
World cup won: 3

Algeria:
Rankings: 28th
World cup appearance: 5
World cup won: 0

Now, do you see the difference. Algeria is not a team one will use to gauge the credibility of Messi. If he had underperformed, that would have been really disappointing. Although he hit some mile stones, and made some records in that game. But that game alone won't make me say "That's why he is the GOAT". If you have said something like, "He is the goat because of the numerous records he broke and mile stones he reached in that game", then that would have been a perfect GOAT statement.

[MFahad]

Lionel Messi is undoubtedly a great player based on how he typically handles the ball, making something meaningful with it while causing chaos for his opponent, and I'm happy for him being the 38years old player who participated in the World Cup 6times. However, his accomplishment is still incomplete if he does not win the 2026 World Cup.

Messi is the GOATED, no doubt about that man..  I am happy for him as well, bruh..
For me regardless of him winning the 2026 World Cup or not, I would say his accomplishments are already complete.. He has done enough and achieved things most players are dreaming of.. I hope he win the cup though, but winning another World Cup would be amazing and add even more to his achievements..

The greatest of all time the greatest Argentinian footballer the Lionel Messi is the one if the greatest footballer in the history of football and Argentina. He is famous for his ball control and dribbling skills. He is a 38 years old guy and yet giving a top notch performance over all formats. He participate 6 time in the international FIFA World Cup and represent his nation Argentina. He perform very key performance and achieved so much in his career and still compete in the world Cup 2026. I would be happy to see his lifiting another world Cup and adding more to his achievements and he is the greatest player of the history of the football and there is no doubt in his greatness.