Qatar World Cup - 2022

Paredes is an utter * anyway. Notorious for it, doesn’t even hide it. Having a argument with him is probably likely.

 

No disagreement there, but Messi has butted heads with former teammate Abidal, too. Even Guardiola wasn't safe from Messi's venomous tongue. I have far more time for Iniesta.

 

Venomous.

 

Didn't realise Messi could upset someone this much.

 

They fell out after Paredes was making remarks about Barcelona players while playing for PSG against Messi. Once they went to NT they were fine and had a laugh about it. Players do it all the time. You make reference to Callum McGregor too who is well known in Scotland for being mouthy on the pitch against opponents. Was very obvious during the covid season.

Barca were a shambles by that point and who knows what happened. No one who is used to that kind of money will keep taking pay cuts when they can go and earn more somewhere else, especially when it their last big contract. He owed Barca nothing in the end. They were great to him as you said paying medical bills that were a few hundred euros a month but it didn’t mean he had to stay there forever.

 

Have to disagree, particularly as Messi professed his loyalty to them over and over. I'm sure he had so much money while at Barca he could've easily taken a paycut. Look at Buffon or Nedved at Juventus. Stayed with them when the club got shoved down the Italian league ladder over corruption. Del Piero, too. That's loyalty.
McGregor won't leave Celtic, even though he could play at a big club. That's commitment right here. Forrest too.

Nobody will take Messi's titles away, Neymar's or Ronaldo's. But to claim any of these is super likeable? Nah. I'll always prefer Manuel Neuer or Andres Iniesta over these *. Andres and Manuel are down to Earth people, who were at the top of the world.
When Croatia beat Argentina 4 years ago, Messi wouldn't congratulate Rakitić- then teammate at Barca. Stormed off in tears.
Same tournament- Neuer congratulated Korean players after they pulled off the Miracle of Kazan and sent Germany packing.
Modrić wished Argentina all the best after they got their revenge last Tuesday. He's a gentleman.

This is what I look for in football. Not just ability.

 

You need to do your research. Spanish law was what stopped him staying at Barcelona. Nothing to do with the finances on offer. A company can only reduce someone’s salary by 50%. Messi had agreed to take a 50% pay cut. Barcelona couldn’t afford that and Messi, by Spanish Law, couldn’t lower his salary anymore.

If you’re going to bash on his loyalty, you should really do you research on what the actual law was.

 

I'm sure they could've let his contract expire, then re-sign him for a symbolic fee. The choice of his next club tells me what he prefers most. Also, we are talking about a man who got done for tax fraud. And one doesn't cheat the taxman because he likes losing money.

As I've said, Nedved, Del Piero, and Buffon are examples of loyalty. *, here's a more reasonable example where you can show loyalty but get a big move later: Larsson stuck with us for ages, but still got to play at Barcelona.

 

Is 21 years not loyal enough? Remember folk claimed Ronaldo was better because he had won titles outside Spain? Maybe Messi fancied a change and put to bed another ridiculous claim.

 

So, you’re suggesting that one of the biggest football clubs in the world, which attracts more media attention than anyone else, tries to break Spanish Law by hiring Lionel Messi… on a reduced contract they could afford. You do know that’s literally against the law over there?

Also, if it wasn’t for the National Law, he still couldn’t play for them. Even if he wanted to play for * all. La Liga rules state that you can only have a certain percentage of your income going on wages. 80% I think it is. Barcelona, without Messi in the contract, were at 95%. They literally wouldn’t have been able to register him.

See the whole tax fraud thing as well. What was it? Like £2m or something that his accounts didn’t declare or something and he was done. So, £1m worth of tax in Spain. I’ll defend both Messi and Ronaldo here. When you’re literally dealing with hundreds of millions of pounds a year, you employ people to handle that sort of stuff for you. Ultimately, it was Messi who was paid it and Messi who was responsible. There are circumstances though where I believe he probably didn’t know anything about it. This is the same guy who gave €4.5m of his own money to UNICEF in 2015. Not that bad a guy.

I don’t know why you’re continuing to peddle the argument that he wasn’t loyal to Barcelona. He spent 20 years there, 16 years as a first team player. You any idea how * stupid you sound, comparing Larsson, who spent 7 years with us? Italian Salary Laws and Spanish Salary laws are completely different, hence the reason he didn’t stay.

Talking about Nedved, Del Piero and Buffon staying with Juventus when they were done for match fixing, like it’s a good thing. The * wanted to stay with a team who were fixing match officials in games to illegally win a title.

 

Aw * up

The state of you in here

 

Aye mate he doesn’t like messi that’s for sure, guardiola never said a bad word about him so obviously not offended by anything, any teammates always say good things about him, guys only human ffs he will have his angry moments and do or say something wrong, like every single one of us

 

Messi was one of the reasons why Barcelona got into a right Mess regarding finances. Exploding wages were first seen when Barcelona had to put something on their shirts. After being ad-less for the whole history. The Unicef donation you spoke of may have happened, but soon, Unicef was gone from Barca shirts. Okay, Neymar, Suarez and some others also leeched money. But Messi charged his "loyalty" high.

Regarding the tax fraud- Messi's dad was involved. That gives things a bit more of a planned appearance than if it was just some shoddy accountant. I'll immediately say Modrić did this, too. And he refused to tell the truth in court in proceedings against the mobster boss of his former club- either too afraid or content with that man walking free. But that's why I never idolise Modrić and say he's the best player ever. My favorite Croatian player is actually Ivan Perišić. Absolute legend who stayed at Inter for ages, not minding the lack of titles.

I'll concede the argument about Juventus, at least in part. But firm loyalty to one club can exist without shady motives. Carles Puyol, Francesco Totti, Paul McStay...

It's a democracy in the Western world, and waxing lyrical about Messi is allowed. But I find it strange to read people praying to * Messi wins it, when there are examples of real human and sporting virtues much closer to most of you on this site than Messi.

 

There is absolutely no chance that Lionel Messi is to blame for Bartomeu handing out ridiculous contracts.

You talking about Messi leeching his loyalty high. He’s been the best player in the world for 15 years. If Barcelona want to give him ridiculous contracts to stay, that’s up to them. They could have turned round and said ‘we can’t afford this, Leo. You need to take a pay cut or look for something else’ and he’d have taken a pay cut. He’s certainly not to blame for them spending £420m on 3 players in Greizmann, Coutinho and Dembele. Griezmann was on nearly £40m a year. Dembele and Coutinho raking in nearly £30m a year. That’s not even talking about the mega contracts they were paying out to De Jong, Pique, Alba and Busquets. The club ended their association with UNICEF because the world of football changed. Teams like Manchester United and Real Madrid were getting financial advantages by getting mega millions a year from shirt sponsors. I don’t understand how Lionel Messi is to blame for Barcelona removing UNICEF from there shirt and going with someone else, who were paying them multi millions a year.

On the tax front, I didn’t say he wasn’t responsible. I said it was £2m. The guy was making nearly £70m a year net from Barcelona alone. Then millions from his other sponsors like Pepsi and Adidas. He was literally dealing with hundreds of millions of pounds a year. No one deals with that sort of money alone and they certainly don’t deal with the intricacies of it on a daily basis. His father and brother were both involved. I have no doubt they’re was something dodgy going on and unfortunately, Messi was probably in on it. Did he no the extent of it? I highly doubt it.

Ivan Perisic spent less time at Inter than Messi did at Barcelona and you’re talking about loyalty again. It’s just weird man. You’re then talking about shady motives. If it was purely about money, Messi would have moved far earlier than he did. Teams in the Middle East, China or America would have paid him hundreds of millions a year to move. He stayed at Barca where he was happy. You’re talking about Totti like he stayed at Roma for no reason. He was the highest paid player in the history of Roma. It’s not like he was paying £1000 a week and just purely playing for the love of club. He was getting paid a fortune to remain there. Aye he turned down some big moves but I mean, who’s bigger than Barcelona? Messi was the best paid player on the planet but he was playing for the club he loves. You can still love your club and get paid well. As has been the case for thousands of players.

From a pure sporting perspective, many of us wanted to see the greatest player who has ever played the game win the most famous footballing trophy in the world. Has he had unsporting moments throughout his career? He’s been a player from nearly 20 years, I’m sure it’s creeped into his game at some points. One of my favourite ever Celtic players was Scott Brown. It’s not like he was a shining example of sporting behaviour on the pitch. We loved him for it. I love him for it. In terms of Messi the man, he’s a family man who’s been with his childhood sweetheart since he was 14 years old. He’d have given up all 7 of his Ballon D’ors to get that World Cup trophy. Not for himself but for his country.

I don’t just think he’s the best football player of all time, I think he’s the greatest athlete of all time. He transcends sport. Up there with Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Tom Brady for me.

You don’t like him, that’s fine. I’m not really a fan of Tom Brady but he’s one of the greatest athletes of all time. I can admit it. You should be able to, also.

 

"He'd have taken a paycut"

No. He left for psg ffs

However you want the best you pay for it.

 

This is drivel. It was essentially impossible for him to stay at Barca because of their shambles of a board.

Have no doubt in my mind that Messi wanted to see out his career at Barca.

 

And pay all his tax as well…….

 

He had agreed a 50% pay cut with the club. They couldn’t afford it. And as I explained previously, Spanish law stopped him taking a further pay cut.

 

How has this * managed to get on the pitch in the first place? Disgraceful

 

What a * balloon he is..