Barca never recovered from his departure…

I think its fair to say Barca let Messi down more than the reverse. Barcelona are an amazing football team for sure but without Messi, I doubt they reach the height they reached in the last 2 decades. Messi never wanted to leave despite the fact that Barca collapsed way too often in the CL and that was never Messi faults. Its crazy how they ravaged the club to the point that the only possible way to fix thing was to release their greatest legend ever, this will remain a black stain in Barca history.

For from the greatest and you mean always overrated*. Got exposed by flopping in the biggest farmers league and you still think he's underrated. Too many fans suffer from recency bias with Messi and Ronaldo.

There were many greater legends than messi in barca. I loved the humiliation they went through before messi left.

@Footy_watch Bro, I know you hate Messi with a passion but he was clearly past his prime at PSG, had to adapt to live at a new club and had to share the goalscoring duty with Mbappe of all people (so of course his stat are not gonna be as imperssive) yet he still managed to get 20 goals and 20 assist for PSG on his second season there.

Sure, his stat and influence over the game of his team at PSG dropped but he was still an absolute gem of a player that nearly any other team would have love to have.

Heck, his Ligue 1 2022/2023 rating on Whoscored.com for example is the best there is, he is even rated better than M'bappe. If you think Messi has flopped in Ligue 1 and been exposed, then M'bappe has been exposed even more.

@Footy_watch I am wondering who you think is the greatest footballer ever. Who is your GOAT? Feel free to share why, but just the name is fine as well.

To anyone else, the same question is posed, for a fun discussion.

If you think Messi has flopped in Ligue 1 and been exposed, then M'bappe has been exposed even more.

I'm comparing messi to messi so by his standards he did flop. 20 goals 20 assists is good but not great for an easy league.

Mbappe is one of my favourite players but he has been flopping for the last 2 or 3 seasons because he chose to stay in an easy league. He was so good coming from monaco, he needs to move clubs to continue improving.

Who is your GOAT? Feel free to share why, but just the name is fine as well.

It's an obvious one, Thierry Henry. He was the best, still has the most assists in the premier league, best dribbler despite being tall, he had everything. He had this elegance which players like messi and cr7 don't have and that's why they can never be considered the best.

I have debated with a lot of people over the years on this topic and I have to say, you are the first to offer Thierry Henry as the GOAT. I must give credit for picking someone not as popular.

I don't have him as the greatest ever, and I favor a few players above him playing position-wise, but I do agree that Henry is a legend in the sport. I have always liked watching him play. He was also a very nice guy outside the game as well judging from the handful of times I met him late 90s and early 2000s.

Just to add to the Messi comparison, we shouldn't forget the bar that both he and CR7 set in their best seasons. That and the longevity they both had performing at such great heights.

PSG is a weak institution with the président weakning his coaches and lacking chemistry in the dressing room. When Messi arrived hé had to deal with off pitch issues. There was 3 clans, Brasilian clan, Mbappé clan and the argentinian spanish clan. Also the institution let their stars disrespect wiorks ethics and Even coaches couldnt do nothing…
If you ask me, they used Messi really bad and Still his stats were very high hé averaged 1 goal/assist per game played.

The problem in modern Football analyse is stats, Zidane was never scoring more than 10 goals a year, and Drogba was never getting +35 goals in PL à season but I Will take Drogba over Halland anyday in m’y Line up.

Opta marks are more reliable than stats to judge a player, many Légend got décent stats but the impact on the pitch and the outcome of the season was huge.

Well for Barca case, many bad décisions and poor management is always going to cause you trouble. Letting Bergiristan go to City was a big mistake, Bartomeu, appointing inexpérienced managers and coaches…

For years Messi was the three hiding the forest.

When comparing a player, we shouldn't compare him to what he used to do, especially in a completely other scenario. We should compare him to his peer, the players who play in the same league as him. Like you keep saying Ligue 1 is an easy league but if you look at the best scorer and best assist giver for a season on average, I think you'd realize that scoring more that this ain't such an easy league.

@tiki I love to talk about stats as well but you aren't wrong about how they don't show the whole story. Its possible to have excellent stat without being the best influence on the team. Take City last season, Haaland scored crazy amount of goals but Rodri was much more important to their overall CL victory imho.

you are the first to offer Thierry Henry as the GOAT

I'm not saying he is because I only know about players in the 21st century. Im only comparing the players who ive seen on Live TV in their prime who people claim are the best such as cr7, messi etc and im saying Henry was better than all of them.

I dont rate messi like many people because being an amazing dribbler is not hard for short players and he only does the most basic dribbling. A big factor for me is being the best whilst being great to watch and messi was never fun to watch.

Hazard didnt use much skill in his dribbling but he is another player who had an attractive style of dribbling.

Ronaldinho is my all-time favorite player, but I don't consider him the greatest ever, so I understand your perspective there. I respectfully disagree that Messi was never fun to watch, but we all have opinions.

What about the rest of you? Who is your GOAT?

Ronaldinho is my all-time favorite player

Tbh if he had CR7 work ethic he would've been the best by a long shot so that means he was the best ever