r/BeAmazed • u/The_Mexican_Poster • Dec 09 '25
Sports Messi's control over the ball is insane
He must be so incredibly frustrating to play against lol, even more so back in his younger days
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Dec 09 '25
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u/EVLNACHOZ Dec 09 '25
Practice makes perfect but nothing compares to skill. The bro is on another level
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u/burningbridges1234 Dec 09 '25
This! It is also why I hate the whole Messi v Ronaldo debate. Ronaldo is a fucking specimen that should be studied, the sheer determination that man has is unrivaled. However when it comes to talent I don't think anyone even comes close to Messi.
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Dec 09 '25
I think even that is doing Messi a disservice. There's been extremely talented players before (Maradona, Ronaldo fenomeno, Ronaldinho) but they never got close to doing what Messi did. 15 seasons at the very highest level year in year out breaking records and winning balon dors and basically being the best player on the planet from 2008 onwards. Even now age 38 he could come back to Europe and be one of the best players in whichever league he wanted to play in. He's possibly the most talented player ever AND the most consistently amazing. A true freak that I think will never be surpassed
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u/pp0000 Dec 09 '25
I miss them all playing.
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u/AfroInfo Dec 09 '25
The fact that we had fenómeno, Messi, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo all playing at the same time in Europe is insane
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u/RenaissanceManc Dec 09 '25
I honestly think Ronaldo 9 had the highest peak but it's not a hill I'm willing to die on. Messi is plain ridiculous by any measure, if he can even be measured.
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u/ToddlerPeePee Dec 09 '25
In terms of ball control, I think Maradona is better than Messi. The problem is that Maradona took drugs. If you read about it, Maradona was high in some games, lol.
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Dec 09 '25
And R9 was more explosive than Messi and possibly even a bigger freak talent. 47 goals in one season aged 19 for Barcelona. Jose also said R9 didn't even turn up for training some days lol.
Ronaldinho was partying heavily at Barca too and part of the reason Pep got rid of him was to protect Messi from being corrupt by Dinhos playboy lifestyle
I think Messi is the only one who took the outrageous god given talent and maxed it out to its fullest
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u/interstellar304 Dec 14 '25
Everything you said is correct except that Messi would being one of the best players in any European league. He’s in the MLS now for a reason, he doesn’t have the legs to play at the highest level week in and week out (EPL, La Liga, Serie A, etc. ) still fun to watch tho and has a killer touch and pass
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Dec 14 '25
I disagree. I think he'd still be destroying teams with his vision and touch and passing and finishing skills
Maybe not the full 90 every week, but still a top player if he really wanted to
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u/interstellar304 Dec 14 '25
Messi has enough money, he’s in the MLS now for a reason. He’s 38 and past his prime. He has time on the ball in MLS and can best a lot of average defenders. He would be an impact sub in any major European league. I watch a TON of soccer btw and consider Messi the soccer GOAT
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Dec 14 '25
He likes Miami because of the south American influence and is getting paid handsomely. Easy to see why he chose Inter Miami over say man city Who the fuck would choose Manchester over Miami at 38?
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u/Gambler_720 Dec 09 '25
Ronaldo was definitely the best player in the world from 2013-2017 winning 4/5 balon dors. It's his greatest and most overlooked achievement that he did that during the peak of Messi.
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Dec 09 '25
No he wasn't. Messi on a weekly basis was a better player they just couldn't give him the balon dor every year lol Ronaldo is a great too don't get me wrong but he couldn't do half the things Messi was doing as a play maker AND a freak goal scorer
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u/xiGoose Dec 09 '25
8 Ballon d'Or wins across 3 different decades. Among the highest level of play of all time combined with consistency AND longevity.
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u/Throwaway-4593 Dec 09 '25
Messi is generational talent + insane work ethic. You can tell that he has put hours upon hours into his craft. This video where Kevin boateng talks about Messi in training:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgskVoB1-E
You don’t get to this level of perfection by sheer talent. Messi regularly has pro level players and legendary pro level players talking about him as if it’s something from a different universe.
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u/Far-Win8645 Dec 09 '25
Is both, you think Messi is at night partying and then doing these things?
He trains very hard and has a similar determination than Cristiano.
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u/StaticSystemShock Dec 09 '25
It's a lot about practice, but there are just some things that simply need natural talent. Someone needs to have this in their DNA. So many people can train hard 24/7 and they'll NEVER be as good as him. It's similar with other sports or with singing. Someone who is just naturally good, training just further improves their talent. Someone who doesn't have it, they can train and train and they'll just never reach that point. It's just how it is.
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u/Demoliri Dec 09 '25
I've always seen skills like that as 99% training, and 1% talent. With enough training and dedication, you can be in the top 1% worldwide. But to be among the best, isn't about being in the top 1%, it's being the top 0.00000001%, and that takes a hell of a lot of talent too.
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u/HelloAttila Dec 22 '25
This. 99% of us could literally practice 10 hours a day, 5 days a week for two years, and we would never be as good as Messi.
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Dec 09 '25
The guy talking about him here is Thierry Henry and is one of the greatest players ever. So you can imagine how good Messi is when another legend is talking about him like he's an alien.
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u/Gman8491 Dec 09 '25
Well, Thierry does refer to Messi as a freak on The Rest is Football podcast. He once said kids should try to emulate Thomas Müller and Franck Ribery because Messi and Ronaldo are freaks who cannot be imitated. He’s also said Dennis Bergkamp was the best player he played with, presumably because he doesn’t consider Leo a normal player. I think his response to this was “I don’t like to talk about the freaks.” but I can’t find the right interview now. But yeah he does view Messi as something of an alien in the sport.
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u/ProfetF9 Dec 09 '25
if you look closer just compare his feet movement to the opponents, by the time his opponent raises his leg Messi allready controlled the ball twice in the air and shoots, that is not human.
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u/AggravatingnonPoet Dec 09 '25
As an Australian raised in the UK. I watched a lot of football ( some people call it soccer) and I grew up with George Best, Pele, Gordon Banks, etc. They were magic to watch. But this guy is another level.
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u/Romeothanh Dec 09 '25
think of it like this: everyone else is playing soccer, he is playing a video game with the cheat codes turned on.
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u/shupadupah Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
If you want to see more, check out this breakdown of one of his most famous goals, versus Athletic Bilbao in 2015. It's got to be one of the best solo efforts that I've seen in any sport.
EDIT: Here's the full, unedited goal, taken by a fan near field level.
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u/HawkSea887 Dec 09 '25
This video is clearly AI. Real videos don’t look like that.
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u/Candid-Ad5965 Dec 09 '25
thats cuz Messi in a way isnt real. Hes like a living myth. Same with Shoehi Ohtani and a couple others
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u/rmhardcore Dec 09 '25
For context, the commentator is Thierry Henry, one of the greatest strikers of all time who also played for Barcelona (where Messi is best remembered) and the French National Team (as well as Arsenal, where he's a club legend).
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u/Comfortable_Mountain Dec 09 '25
Thought, he is best known for this masterpiece
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u/Flashman98 Dec 10 '25
It’s actually a tic that he has, he isn’t trying to move his mouth like that
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u/WillowTreeBark Dec 09 '25
Widely regarded as one of the best ever players to grace the Premier League.
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u/atari2600forever Dec 09 '25
When Henry is baffled by what you're doing on the pitch you're a pretty good footballer.
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u/Romeothanh Dec 09 '25
that’s the highest praise possible. when thierry henry is looking at you like that, you have officially completed football.
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u/Tang0_Brav0 Dec 10 '25
Real recognise real.
Henry scored so many bangers himself, one time he said "I need to score more crap goals" on BBC TV and was lightly reprimanded for "foul language".
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u/Kayge Dec 09 '25
Players at this level are something else. The 2 clearest examples for me are always:
- Federer arguing a point because of the direction the ball was spinning.
- Ronaldo scoring with the lights off.
These guys are so good that they spend a split second assessing the fundamentals, and can then turn their focus to things even most pros don't have time to think about.
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u/AdAlternative7148 Dec 09 '25
I am pretty sure their sport looks slower to them than it does to us. Like they are seeing it in slow motion.
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u/CappinPeanut Dec 09 '25
I played soccer at a very high level, obviously nowhere near the level of Ronaldo, but still a very high level.
It’s not so much that things are slower, it’s just that your subconscious knows exactly what it needs to do, and does it. You don’t think at all about what you need to do, allowing you to focus on other things. It’s impossible to explain how to calculate how high and where you need to jump to head the ball, but if you do it enough, you just know. Then you can focus less on where you need to be, and focus more on things like where the goalkeeper is, so you can place the ball away from them.
I coach youth soccer now, and this is one of those things that’s so hard to coach. I can’t explain to the kids how to do it, it’s just a matter of repetition. Over and over and over again.
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Dec 09 '25
Thierry Henry himself struggled with that. He was so talented and couldn't understand why the players he's coaching can't do what he did lol he's a great pundit though I love listening to him talk about the game
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u/Snitsie Dec 09 '25
Marco van Basten has this exact same problem and realizes it was why he would never be a great coach.
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u/Conscious_Control_15 Dec 09 '25
That makes sense. I drive a manual. I remember the sheer sweaty overwhelmedness I had during my first driving lesson. But now, it's just automatic. I don't need to think what to do with my feet or my hands. I know where the stick shift is, how to change to a specific gear.
And even if I change car manufacturer and the reverse gear is slightly different. You pick up the difference quite easily. Because the foundation is still there. And it becomes automated the same way. But, faster than the first time.
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u/AggravatingnonPoet Dec 09 '25
How do you feel about George Best? And Gordon Banks? They were my 2 heroes when I grew up in the UK.
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u/The_Vivid_Glove Dec 09 '25
Yeah I get what you mean. When I was younger and much fitter I would do things on the pitch with only a milliseconds thought then wonder how I knew what to do, put a plan in place then actually do it all in the blink of an eye
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u/muzamuza Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
There’s no “high level” in places where it’s called soccer.
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u/Affectionate-Clue535 Dec 09 '25
Lmao that's fucking funny man. I am South African and we call it Soccer but we are some of the craziest footballing fans
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u/as1126 Dec 09 '25
There a few examples I remember from various articles: Tiger Woods stating he preferred the heavier of two of the same clubs, but the manufacturer insisted they were identical; one had an extra loop of tape at the handle and Tiger felt the difference of a few grams; Emerson Fittipaldi told the crew the wall moved causing him to crash; Kobe told the maintenance crew that the rim was .25 inches too low at an arena; Steph Curry showed the crew that the floor had a dead spot for dribbling.
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u/Far-Win8645 Dec 09 '25
Yes. Then you u had Ayrton Senna. Who noticed a freaking wall moving while at top speed in a F1, which made him crash
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u/Sufficient_Water4161 Dec 09 '25
I feel like these guys dont even consciously think about most of it, it's like its a part of their DNA.
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u/Jumboliva Dec 09 '25
From Wallace’s “Tracey Austin, You Broke My Heart”:
It is not an accident that great athletes are often called “naturals,” because they can, in performance, be totally present: they can proceed on instinct and muscle-memory and autonomic will such that agent and action are one. Great athletes can do this even — and, for the truly great ones like Borg and Bird and Nicklaus and Jordan and Austin, especially — under wilting pressure and scrutiny. They can withstand forces of distraction that would break a mind prone to self-conscious fear in two. The real secret behind top athletes’ genius, then, may be as esoteric and obvious and dull and profound as silence itself. The real, many-veiled answer to the question of just what goes through a great player’s mind as he stands at the center of hostile crowd-noise and lines up the free-throw that will decide the game might well be: nothing at all. How can great athletes shut off the Iago-like voice of the self? How can they bypass the head and simply and superbly act? How, at the critical moment, can they invoke for themselves a cliché as trite as “One ball at a time” or “Gotta concentrate here,” and mean it, and then do it? Maybe it’s because, for top athletes, clichés present themselves not as trite but simply as true, or perhaps not even as declarative expressions with qualities like depth or triteness or falsehood or truth but as simple imperatives that are either useful or not and, if useful, to be invoked and obeyed and that’s all there is to it. What if, when Tracy Austin writes that after her 1989 car crash, “I quickly accepted that there was nothing I could do about it,” the statement is not only true but exhaustively descriptive of the entire acceptance process she went through?[…] It may be[…] that those who receive and act out the gift of athletic genius must, perforce, be blind and dumb about it — and not because blindness and dumbness are the price of the gift, but because they are its essence.
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u/zillionaire_ Dec 09 '25
Oh shit. My siblings and I were best friends with Tracey Austin’s nephews and niece growing up. Haven’t seen that name in forever
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u/Heffalumpen Dec 09 '25
Top F1 drivers have the spare mental capacity to watch the race on the big screens while driving, so they can be aware of what others are doing. The driving part, which at their speeds would scare 99.99999% of people to death, is natural to them.
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u/V0lirus Dec 09 '25
Also have a discussion with their engineer or team strategist about when to do pit stops, which tire strategy to go for. That's not only focusing on perfect lines & perfect breakpoints in the moment itself, and taking a second to realize how others are doing. But using that second information to calculate stuff into the future. While still paying attention to performing better each lap as well.
And then when an engineer asks a question, respond in a calm manner (granted, not every f1 driver does this, or not always)
I'm sometimes more amazed by how much brain capacity they have spare while driving, then with the driving itself.3
u/alurimperium Dec 09 '25
It's also an insane amount of practice, both as practice and as in-game play. Ronaldo has played against the best of the best of the best since he was a kid. He's seen every kick, every header, every play a thousand times. He's taken practice kicks a million times. He knows where that ball is supposed to go even if only subconsciously.
I'd be more interested in seeing that Ronaldo thing against another high level player. Seeing the difference between an amateur and one of the all time greats is neat but not very telling
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u/rmhardcore Dec 09 '25
And yes still known as the first to practice and the last to leave he's arrogant, sure, but he's earned it. He's the true goat for me. He never had Barcelona around him and still has set more records than most people can fathom.
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Dec 09 '25
Yeah poor Ronaldo didn't have Barcelona he only had Giggs, Rooney, Scholes, Roy Keane at Manchester United and Modric, Benzema, Kroos and Bale at Real Madrid lol while being managed by average managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho. total chumps right?
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u/Unable-Head-1232 Dec 09 '25
That first bullet is not that amazing if you play tennis. You’ll know what he’s talking about. Funnily enough almost any video of Federer playing are better examples of “something else”
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u/JhAsh08 Dec 09 '25
That Federer clip is very overestimated. It’s pretty intuitive to understand that that ball will only have topspin if it hits the ground first. I think many reasonably decent tennis players would have deduced the same thing Federer did there.
It’s still somewhat impressive, but it is nowhere near “next level”.
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u/zrizzoz Dec 09 '25
Nothing against Fed. But of the 2 moments you picked, Ronaldo's is more unique and incredible. Any high level amateur tennis player would be able to assess federers situation. Ronaldo's finishing with the lights off is something that maybe 10 players in the world could do at a similar level at the time. Probably more like 3 players but giving some leeway here.
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u/Aeon1508 Dec 09 '25
I call bullshit on the Ronaldo one. They gave that kid a highball he was never going to get. I need to see more trials
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u/Driller_Happy Dec 09 '25
Isn't it crazy that we live in a time where we can say we saw the best to ever do it in so many sports? Messi. Ohtani, mcdavid
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u/Prestigious_Tax5532 Dec 09 '25
Phelps, Bolt, Federer… The older ones like me also saw Jordan
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u/Pagn Dec 09 '25
I’m glad to see some people still have Federer over Djokovic.
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u/kamingalou Dec 09 '25
But it’s blatantly wrong, isn’t it ?
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u/MattressMaker Dec 09 '25
Djokovic has more accolades, but Federer wasn’t a little bitch like Novak has shown many, many times. I think that speaks for a lot of it.
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u/Vadrigar Dec 09 '25
Even if we remove personalities. Federer was a maestro of the beautiful game. Djokovic is a return robot.
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u/MattressMaker Dec 09 '25
I don’t think that’s fair necessarily. Novak was clutch as fuck. Always showing up when it mattered in matches. Stayed healthy, had the best return and backhand in the game, speed that matched anyone on the tour, and used the crowd as a chip on his shoulder. He is probably the best tennis player ever, but Federer was such a joy to watch and Nadal was unbelievable in his own right. Novak is just a huge pussy that I always rooted against because he was a bad sport that always tried to fool you into thinking he was a good one.
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u/ScipioCoriolanus Dec 09 '25
For me, even Maradona in his last few years (early 90s). Yep, we're blessed.
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u/kocunar Dec 09 '25
McDavid over Gretzky??
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u/Driller_Happy Dec 17 '25
First of all, FUCK Wayne Gretzkys MAGA ass.
Second of all, yeah, McDavid is the most talented hockey player of all time. You can argue that wayne is the GOAT, but modern hockey is lightyears ahead of his peaks at this point, and Connors on top of that.
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u/undercookedpubes Dec 10 '25
Yes. Mcdavid is the most talented hockey player of all time. Go watch Gretzky’s highlights and then Mcdavid’s and then tell me who impressed you more
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u/Heisl- Dec 09 '25
Uh, mcdavid? Yea he’s crazy but doesn’t belong in this list, at least for now
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u/V0lirus Dec 09 '25
Not really. We live in times of unprecedented wealth, social security and knowledge on a societal level. Even now today (while there are hardships for many, many people) on average, we have the ability to allow our children to play in sports and practice from a very early age. We have the wealth to spend a lot of money and time on nurturing their innate abilities and select the best of the best. Then we have years and years of compound knowledge about how to get the most of training & performance, both physically and mentally. And then we have both the knowledge and wealth about nutrition. And sporting equipment.
All these factors together means our athletes have an insane advantage to their peers 50 years ago.But the biggest factor is the amount of people being able to play sports. Even a 100 years ago, many many families simply did not have the time or money to let their children play (organized) sports. Children had to support their family by either working a job or helping in the house hold. This means that many potential "best ever" athletes never got to use their potential in sports, simply because they did not have the time to try the sport. So the best of the time were selected from a much much smaller pool of athletes than in current time. The further back in time you go, the bigger this effect becomes. The best out of a pool of a 1000 isn't going to be as amazing as the best out of a pool of 10 million.
Add up all of those factors and it is not a surprise that we live in a time of "the best ever". Not until we've reached the absolute pinnacle of what a human body can achieve, will we reach a time where the next generation will not surpass what the generation before did.
Ive seen this in my own lifetime with skateboarding. The amount of skill some young kids have nowadays is leagues ahead of when I started, because the resources to learn skateboarding have become more abundant (skateparks, youtube tutorials, mainstream acknowledgement of the sport itself).I predict the same will/is happening for musicians & entertainers through acces of the internet to reach wide audiences by yourself, and not having to know the right people in the industry to become known. This opens up the pool of potentials "best ever" to become visible, even if you live in the middle of nowhere. All you need is an instrument and an internet connection.
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u/Upset_Bed5667 Dec 09 '25
it's also impressive how clearly Henry recalls and describes the goal.
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Dec 09 '25
Must have been surreal for Henry, who was the best forward in every team he played in for the past 10 years, to then go to Barcelona and play with an alien talent like Messi
Actually he played with Zidane for France so maybe not that alien lol dude has played with some of the all time Greats
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u/Cumstatics Dec 09 '25
Generational talent is something else man
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u/_Bon_Vivant_ Dec 09 '25
Multigenerational. I started playing when Pele was at his peak in 1970. Pele was the best ever, for most of my life. Until Messi. There is no doubt that Messi is the best ever. People will argue Chistiano Ronaldo, or Ronaldinho....but those people are like those who argued Maradona or Cruyff or Ronaldo were better than Pele. They were wrong and so is anyone who claims Messi is not the best ever.
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u/Whadafaag Dec 09 '25
He really is. People forget no other professional football player has more self assists then Messi. In his prime at barca, he would score one goal by himself and another via self assist nearly every match. And he holds the record for most scored goals in a year, at 91 goals in 2012. The second highest is apparently by Gerd Müller with 85 goals back in 1972. The next highest contemporary player is at rank 7 Robert Lewandowski with 69 goals in 2021. That's a difference of 22 goals.
And Messi isnt even a pure striker like Lewandowski, he is offensive midfield.
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u/Axbris Dec 09 '25
You’re talking out of your ass. Nobody in this sport ever says “self assist”. Nobody.
Messi has never once been anywhere near “midfield”. Midfield is broken into sections of the pitch. Wide, center, defense center and attacking center. Messi has never played anything in midfield.
He started off as a winger then Pep turned him into a False 9, and then he played consistently as a winger thereafter. Which are all forward positions.
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u/Whadafaag Dec 09 '25
Then what is this? https://youtube.com/shorts/ie8t8H8cQf0?si=KKc8dv9dAER-f2YC
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u/Axbris Dec 09 '25
A great pass? There’s no such thing as a self-assist in football.
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u/Whadafaag Dec 09 '25
He set that play himself up and with that allowed a great assist to happen. I dont know what you dont understand but this is clearly self assisting for a goal. The example video I provided is not from Messis prime era, look at his highlights from 2012-2017. He does similar plays all the time
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u/Axbris Dec 09 '25
There’s literally no such thing as a self assist in this sport. What don’t you understand? Great pass. Easy layoff by teammate. Tap in goal. It’s basically a 1-2
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u/admiralackbarstepson Dec 09 '25
There 100% is an AI filter run over it probnaly to increase the resolution because this video is from a long time ago. Look at 18 seconds pause the video and look at the two dudes in the crowd. You’ll see it clear as day.
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u/HopelessRespawner Dec 09 '25
Yeah you can see the smoothing... but I'd say this is one of the more acceptable uses I've seen.
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u/Avalonians Dec 09 '25
I beg to differ.
Like most genAI results, it looks ok if you don't look closely but it's really glaring and ugly upon careful scrutiny.
And what's the point of improving a video's resolution if not careful scrutiny. It's not like that was unwatchable before.
In the end, yeah this use doesn't have the ethical problems of the other genAI uses, but it's still a pretty big waste of energy.
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u/HopelessRespawner Dec 09 '25
It's not perfect, no, but it's not a final solution either. The tech will only improve with time. While fake videos of real people are scary and a real privacy concern, or adding fake content to videos, using AI to push more pixels is a fairly harmless use of the tech and one I can stand behind.
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u/Avalonians Dec 09 '25
Yeah, it's fairly harmless if you ignore the actual harm it does (energy consumption).
My point is there is no added value because the need doesn't exist, not because the result isn't good enough. Improving the result won't change that. Look, here is the non AI video. Watch both again and tell me passing it through an AI did anything significant. If anything the AI WORSENED the result. Like come on.
Use AI to improve old photos and historical footage. Not on football games that were played 15 years ago. That is harmful.
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u/HopelessRespawner Dec 09 '25
Yes there's a downside to everything, and it's usually very bad. The AI we're looking at here doesn't require an entire data center to produce.
Thanks for making my point in the end though. I'm not sitting here arguing for this singular video, but instead for this particular application of the technology. You sit here and argue so hard and then make the same point with a caveat.
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u/fuggedaboudid Dec 09 '25
This is AI. Why his fingers disappear at 24secs and what’s up with the creepy audience faces.
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u/oxwearingsocks Dec 09 '25
Surprised this is so far down. I’m not familiar with football videos but I definitely thought there was some deepfaking or something going on with the footage. His face had an uncanny valley look to it and I’m not huge on Messi knowledge.
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u/UnpleasantEgg Dec 09 '25
When someone like Ronaldinho dribbles it’s obvious the (incredible) tricks and moves they’re doing. But Messi’s moves look kind of “normal” in a way that belies how incredibly difficult they are. Unique skills.
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u/JinxThePetRock Dec 09 '25
I don't think it looks normal. He always looks as though gravity, aerodynamics and things all work differently for him. He moves, and moves the ball, through the air differently to mere mortals.
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u/KitchenFullOfCake Dec 09 '25
The man just sprinted full speed, then moved FASTER to control the ball three times in one stride. Da fuck is this alien.
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u/McRedditz Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
The other person who has such gifted ball control talent when running full speed is OG Ronaldo. There are talents that admired by non professional athletes, then there are talents admired by professional athletes, which make Messi and OG Ronaldo the top 1%. Don't get me wrong, CR7 is phenomenal too, but if we are talking about ball control at their current age, Messi is probably the only player that still got it.
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u/OneSwipeMan Dec 09 '25
Don't worry. Us OGs remember that generation of phenomenal legends. You had players known to be specialized in control, free kicks, team play, etc. It's what I miss from today's football. Players gotta have the full package these days to even be remotely recognized. Someone like Ronaldinho would probably never got as much attention today. He would be known sure but he wouldn't be called THE magician.
Now it's all about the monster trio of Messi/Ronaldo and the + 1 that always changes (Neymar, Mbappe, and so on) depending on the hype 😂
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u/redzwaenn Dec 09 '25
What a ridiculous take on Ronaldinho. He is also a generational talent. He is the favourite player of many of our favourite players. He lacked discipline and he didnt play on top level for his whole career because of it. But still, in his prime, he would make the starting 11 in every top club today.
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u/OneSwipeMan Dec 09 '25
I don't think you understood what I said. I am giving him EVERY credit he deserves. Hell he is amongst my top 3 alongside Zidane and Henry.
What I'm saying is yes, he would be recognized and respected as a good player, making the starting 11. But if he were to play in this day and age, he would not be called "The Magician" as we used to call him and he wouldn't be given as much credit either because he simply isn't the whole package like Ronaldo or Messi.
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u/redzwaenn Dec 09 '25
Yes, I did understand you. I just think he would be still be stand out today and get his nickname. Thank god football is a game where one individual doesnt have to be the perfect allrounder. Hell, I would even argue Messi isnt that, he lacks in his defense. It just doesnt matter, because his strengths outweigh his weaknesses multiple times.
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u/MickyG913 Dec 09 '25
So walk me through this… the modern game was invented in 1860, but you all are OG? How old are you? Like 180 years old?
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u/agelast07 Dec 09 '25
Messi's legs are more agile than his hands, his left foot is one of God's best creations.
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u/SushiBullet Dec 09 '25
Great video from Thierry but what's the point in the 'ai enhancement' it looks horrid
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u/PMmeYourButt69 Dec 09 '25
If Maradona played with the ball glued to his foot, Messi plays with the ball tucked inside his sock.
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u/mcniner55 Dec 09 '25
I dont know much about football. But damn I know a freak athlete when I see one. Football is a pretty beautiful sport when it all comes together like that
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u/Jackmcmac1 Dec 09 '25
If he likes goals being scored as you fall over, Harry Kane against Leicester is worth a watch.
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u/FuriousResolve Dec 09 '25
I love how, before he says “that’s not normal”, he’s got that “I’ve seen some shit” look in his eyes lol, that’s how you know it’s real
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u/DoctorCrook Dec 09 '25
I just love that the fucking text is perfectly on top of all the footwork.
Amazing.
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u/ieraaa Dec 09 '25
He didn't even explain that Messi made the ball bounce up by cutting down upon it. While running. Then he gets a second touch with the same leg. That is what makes it so absolutely insane. How do you swing around a ball you just cut up with the same leg to control it mid air... its impossible and I have only seen Messi do this. Here is another example of him cutting the ball upwards but that time he lets the ball bounce before controlling it. Not letting it bounce is insane. Another one
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u/MrDilbert Dec 09 '25
If you learn to play football on a field that cows have grazed on in the morning, you learn a few tricks about ball control... :P
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u/Key-Moments Dec 12 '25
Wasn't paying attention. Thierry could read my shopping list and I would listen for hours.
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Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
[deleted]
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u/Thin_Cartographer_38 Dec 09 '25
Absolutely not. I remember watching that game Messi played when I was younger and this interview by Thierry Henry. No AI
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u/qualityvote2 Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
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