Lionel Messi Leaves the World Breathless, Wordless.

By: chris | April 6th, 2010

If there were any words left to describe Lionel Messi this morning, they’re long gone at this hour. Barcelona were good, but Messi was simply in a league of his own; like a little kid with a little kid haircut, still kicking the ball about all alone in his backyard, spinning and twirling, imagining all these wondrous things which can only be conjured up in a child’s imagination. Only he wasn’t alone, but rather playing against eleven highly-skilled professional athletes.

He’s left us today with two things: four goals, and, more importantly, the hardest of tasks not to mouth, not to type the words that he’s going to become the greatest ever. We should be waiting. He’s 22. But it’s all so difficult. Too difficult.

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Category: Champions League

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lol

this may have been the most homoerotic post i've ever read.
alex

great players make it look so easy
ethandeanrichards

me like messi. I hope this adds to the debate
JT

Sorry but that first goal was amazing. He had two defenders going for the ball from different directions. He got rid of it milliseconds before it was either deflected or knocked away, and the shot was by Almunia in a heartbeat. Few, if anyone else can do that. Scoring from there with that little space is nearly impossible.
Jacek

Yeah his goals weren't spectacular.... he has lots of time but he's still a few notches down from a player of Zidanes pedigree
Joe

Jose, assuming Liverpool are one of the top ten clubs (they might not be after this season) the last player to hit four was Arshavin for Arsenal against Liverpool last season.
wvr

Maybe the goals weren't his best but I think his overall play was great. Knew when to pass the ball and when to go for it himself. For example, that pass to Abidal that started the play that he would end was great. I bet even Xavi was a bit amazed at that pass.

And of course there are the plays that unfortunately didn't end in goal but he still took our 3-4 defenders. That's not luck especially when he's getting kicked and still manages to keep the ball as it too bounces around from foot to foot.

Yet I also agree that this wasn't his best performance although it's probably top 3.
chris

Messi's the first to score 4 in a Champions League knockout round.

Only Puskas did it in European Cup history - the 1960 final in a 7-3 win.

Good enough for me.
James

Messi's so cool he could punch a nun and he'd still be #1
Ian Rose

Jose - that's a valid point. In terms of what team he did it against, it's amazing. It's just that Arsenal didn't quite live up to being a Premiership top 4 team on the day either. Anyway, great day for Messi regardless - I might be nitpicking too much. He's an incredible player.
Jose

Sure, maybe it wasn't his finest hat-trick, but it was against one of the Premiership 4.

When was the last time a single player scored 4 goals against one of the Top 10 clubs in Europe (according to UEFA coefficients)? That's an actual question.
Jorid

I'm not even an Argentina fan, but I now want them to win the World Cup, so at 22, or 26, everybody can stop doubting this man about being the best to have ever graced a football with his touch. I still can't believe what I have just seen.

P.S: What I find somewhat funny and unfortunate, is that although Rooney has been having the best season of his career so far and has really proved some critics wrong this season, his performances compared to Lionel Messi make him look like those of a child.
Ian Rose

Yeah, as great as he is, and I do believe he's by far the best in the world, he got a lot of help from Arsenal today. Aside from the second goal, which was pretty amazing, there were goalkeeper errors, one-on-one giveaways, and outright passes from the Arsenal defenders. Not to take anything away from him - he took what was given and finished them perfectly - but some of the La Liga hat tricks have been more impressive in terms of the actual goals. Still, when you can compare a player's hat tricks to see which you like best, you're talking about a hell of a player.
jj

im a barca fan and i can honestly say ive seen him play better than that many times. Yeah he scored four but his second and third you would have expected pretty much any striker to have scored them and his fourth almunia should have saved and wheras the first was a great strike hes was still lucky that it bounced back to him and apart from his goals he didnt really do anything so why people are rating the performance so highly i dnt know. Dont get me wrong hes a great player but overwealmingly overrated.
cap123

it was a fantastic performance and he is by far the best player in the world.. but i think arsenals defence deserve a bit of credit for their horrible defending.