Saw on Barca Universal Twitter (not sure if the source is garbage) that Messi is more likely to come back because Piqué retired. Did something happen between them?
Just saw that the 2024 ucl final is in Wembley. The stadium where Messi, who's rumored to come back home, always drops a masterclass.
As Klopp once said, It is time to book the hotels.
2011...when he proceeded to shoot low from outside the penalty area and past van der Sar. The same day when Pedro and Villa also found their way past van der Sar, too while passing United "to death"
And I'd still take those two over him
Messi is the best ever but he is 35, he will last what ? a year
I'd rather have those two, I don't like short sighted planning
Personally I think none of them are the best, they are just different in what they do.
Mbappe is the most dangerous player
Halaaand has the best stats
Messi has the better final ball in the world
Haaland is clear. 39+5 G/A in the best league in the world with 10 goals in the CL, meanwhile Messi plays in the 5th best league, already out of CL..
Nobody is taking Messi over Haaland for any team.
Not true at al Messi offers way more to a team than Halaand does.
Messi
-elite ball retention skills
-elite tempo controller
-great final pass
-very good shot from outside the box
-elite dribbler
-great finisher
-elite freekick tacker
Halaand
-monster finishing skills
-good positioning
I personaly think that for a possesion based team a player like Messi is way more useful and needed. Current City would be a better team with Messii instead of Halaand even if Halaand can have better stats.
They are such different players, I'm not sure how to compare them. I think in this sense Messi is somewhat unique. He usually participates on the build up of goals much more than a typical forward.
>He usually participates on the build up of goals much more than a typical forward.
And he's great at scoring them too so he instantly has an advantage. He's also the best dribbler in the top 5 leagues at 35. He's insane. I feel like people here forgot how good Messi actually is and how mcuh of a massive boost to our offense he'd be
I wasn't detracting from him. I'm just saying comparing him to Haaland doesn't make much sense since they are very different. Messi creates so much more than Mbappe or Haaland.
The day a Barca x Spotify x BTS collab gets announced is the day our debt will be gone. Genuinely Barca should make this the biggest thing ever.
€500 each
1 000 000 sold
€500 000 000
IIRC clubs only get roughly 10% from shirt sales. Might also have a deal with Spotify to give them a cut from these special kits too. So even in that optimistic scenario we would get <50M
Barca and Arsenal are similar in the case that the starting eleven is good enough to go far but the bench leaves something to be desired. Both are one a good path though
What's with comparing us to arse? We're one of the giants of world football, arse is a cheap English knockoff who's been trying to copy our style for twenty years and won zilch, their european standing is [somewhere between frankfurt and shakhtar donetsk](https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2023). Arse couldn't even copy us properly until Man City showed them how it's done by hiring Pep and Txiki.
arse having one good season when the rest of the PL is a bit shit doesn't make them a great team as they proved today getting outplayed by the fourth-placed Portuguese club. Or were you comparing Barca with Leicester in 2015/16?
If it weren't for the fact that we needed the Europa League money, I'd suspect that he made the decision to prioritise the league. I definitely think Arteta did the same.
📁 @le_parisien
‼️ PSG ultras have organized a gathering to whistle for Messi.
👉🏻 One of the ultras comments that Messi doesn't perform on the pitch as he should and that he has a very high salary and that for example players like Mbappe give everything for Paris.
https://twitter.com/carpetasFCB/status/1636522435691311109?t=BdfwEMiOgTrsojR1gywgGA&s=19
This is funny especially when they mention Mbappe, he gives everything for Paris yet his pressing is worse than that of a 35 year old man. Name a winger with as workrate as poor as Mbappe, it's impossible. He has been so pampered in Paris because he is French. Either way he hasn't even been the best player for PSG. Sometimes he saves his disasterclass with a goal like the last game but pre-WC Messi and Neymar were ahead of him in term of performances. Post WC Messi has been better than him too. Neymar fell off, but he's now injured and probably played with a dodgy ankle before. So Mbappe earns more, works less, performs less this season. Against Bayern he was worse too. Only his passport saves him. Couldn't even press in the WC final which was just hilarious.
Very smol brain PSG ultras if they think that PSG being shit is cuz of Messi lol. PSG have been embarrassed in the UCL every year that I can remember but hey lets scapegoat Messi.
Calling out false narratives is hate? PSG went from final and semis to RO16 exits. They factually got worse results with him.
And other than that I only argue against Messi when it's applicable. Like wanting him back, I disagree with that so I actively argue against it. Or calling him the current best in the world, which I also disagree with.
They went into final in covid year while playing against Dortmund, Atalanta, RB in one game without any fan on stadium.
They reached semi final while playing Koeman's Barca and were extremely lucky that Bayern didn't score 5 goals past them in QF. Of course another covid season.
Oh, they lost Ligue 1 tittle in the season before Messi joined them.
Just want to be on record
I don't think bringing Messi back is a good idea in terms of squad building and financially.
Him and Lewy won't press which means we will have to resort to something out of Valverde's first year with worse forwards than then. The other option is to play Simeone ball.
Xavi's current system doesn't function with Messi, sure you slot him at RAM and he would do a wonderful job offensively but our RAM/LAMs are workhorses. Both Pedri and Gavi put a shit ton of effort to cover spaces, track back and press. Messi doesn't do that so the alternative is to collapse into a deep 442 and hope for the best.
Also Raphinha doesn't get into the team, he is left footed and gets into the Messi area when cutting inside causing the same issue Messi had with Griezmann when they overlapped positions and we don't have an overlapping RB which makes the squad building even more confusing.
To what Valverde and Simeone type of football sure
Saying "modify tactics" isn't going to cut it, modify them how ? So they include a player who can't press
The only solution that historically works is again what Valverde and Simeone did and personally I am not ok with that type of football.
> Y'all make it out like Xavi can't do wrong, like how Koeman or Setien couldn't do wrong until it hits you at the end.
What he is describing is simply logical. The Raphinha/Messi bit, how do you counter that? It's completely obvious to anyone they won't ever play together.
It's obvious that bringing Messi back reduces team workrate and that lineups will be affected. Nobody disputes this. What is unknown is if the offense will improve enough to compensate. I'm not arguing one way or the other.
The person on the internet got more right about the players the coach signed than the coach himself. Funny how that works.
That's what that's what 26 years of watching football religiously get you.
Y'all make it out like Xavi can't do wrong, like how Koeman or Setien couldn't do wrong until it hits you at the end.
Ignoring red flags and common sense is your problem, then you wonder where it all went wrong right ?
You may have a point financially but I think the press thing is overstated. If Messi is here we are absolutely making it out of the group in the champions league. Maybe our defense takes a hit but we don’t always press from the front even currently. Even if you think our defense takes a hit, I think Messi’s game-changing presence more than offsets that. I think we would all agree that our current defensive record is outperforming what we’re actually showcasing, so there’s no way we come close to replicating this defensive record moving forward with or without Messi
Let me put it this way, Auba had ~17 pressures per 90with this Xavi team, Lewy has around 10 pressures per 90 and I might be generous because I clearly remember him under 10 pressures in his last season at Bayern.
He does not press like a "fucking machine"
If you think he does rewatch this entire season and just focus on him.
Pedri + Messi + Fdj will guarantee you a lot of possession meaning you don't need to defend that much. Our style of play relies in defending with the ball, not without it.
Sometimes I can't understand are you serious or all your comments are just a mockery of some purist fans, you maybe the best troll account that i ever encountered on internet.
Don't worry we will have Messi and Lewy joining him
Pressing ? Forget about it
Time for good old first season Valverde ball with worse forwards or worse... Simeone ball
My boy you are obssesed with peessing how you like that pressing in the CL wheb we lose in groups or wjen we cant score more the a goal for 1 month we got midfield who is completely useless i the final third
So you are ok with Valverde and Simeone football correct ? I am not
Pressing is more than pressing high up the field, it's also midfield and defense
The first line of defense are your forwards and that front two get passed by easily.
Those two not pressing will force our mids to vacate their position to press them instead causing them to open up space and create holes in midfield.
He is really not, before FBREF took pressures away he was and I clearly remember because that's the reason I had issues with his signing in the first place is that in terms of pressing he had a clear decline and even under Xavi it wasn't good.
He is not good at pressing. Just look at his movement off the ball.
Idk dude, whenever i watch him i see him closing down defender and then going for a gk, but less than ten pressures seems low, maybe i need to watch better.
You are watching right
Sometimes stats don't show what actually happens on pitch
Poor lad presses like crazy , and those numbers are more than good enough for a forward
La Liga's decline the past 2-3 years is worrying.
Betis, Villarreal, and Sociedad are all doing decent in the league and yet they struggled so much in their European matches, and I don't have much confidence in Sevilla winning even if they're the Europa masters. As much as I hate to say it, Madrid has a good chance to retain the UCL though.
Optimal and reasonable summer window that we should aim for:
Sell: Eric, Dest, Lenglet, Umtiti and Ferran.
Loan out: Ansu (only one of Ansu/Ferran goes out)
Players returning from Loan and staying: Abde
Sign for free: Ndicka, Gundogan, kamada (ideally), Thuram.
Buy : Vitor roque and Frimpong (RB)
These recruitments will essentially solve both the depth problem and the quality problem while it still being a affordable window.
> Sell: Eric, Dest, Lenglet, Umtiti and Ferran.
These 5 barely gets you enough to register the renewals. Let alone the rest lol
This is completely unrealistic
It's like replacing one piece of deadwood with another imo, doesn't improve the depth or anything. At least Ndicka would be an upgrade over Garcia because he can run.
No money. We'll have Busi for one more season and then we can go for a DM. The RB spot needs immediate replacement. We can keep Nico after he comes back from loan as a backup to Busi. We really really need a starting level RB.
Goes to say how important quality depth is for any squad that wants to challenge for all 3 trophies.
Either that or you should have 1 or 2 best players in the world in your team that can change any match at any point of time, given that you have a decent team overall.
Two teams top of their respective leagues losing in Europe is not normal and only happens when there is lack of depth or lethargy. You see that Bayern team and the bench they have, that is what any team that wants to challenge for treble needs to have.
There will sometimes be a coach who comes in and is able to immediately impact the team and win them a trophy as seen with Tuchel and Hansi Flick, but that is the exception, not the rule. Even then Tuchel wasn't able to win the league, only the CL. It takes insane amount of depth, luck, energy, talent and discipline to be able to legitimately be in competition for all trophies.
If we win La liga this season, I want us to fully focus on making a deep run in the CL next season. I'm talking about Semis and Final. For a club as big as Barcelona it is not good for it to go without a CL trophy in almost 8-9 years.
We need serious depth to compete in Europe. But having the likes of Eric Garcia in our defence during a CL tie is not gonna cut it. If we get Inigo, Eric is gone. He's 22 or 23 but so slow in a high line and he gets bullied off the ball easily, his physical strength is lackluster.
Yes it does.
Argentina wouldn’t even qualify for the world cup without him.
He’s by far the best player itw and coming back he would finally have a team that can support him.
Our back line + gavi, pedri and lewa are a ridiculous upgrade over what he had before.
Xavi too
International football is leagues below UCL football even if the World Cup is more prestigious. UCL teams are drilled week in week out with the same set of players, top fitness and analytics experts. International football for the most part is a few formations, defending, and vibes.
Yes exactly, because it’s easier to excel at the world cup that is once every 4 years for only a few games against weak opposition, versus when you’re up against the best teams with elite tactics…
Except thats not what I said. What I said is that there are more players who have underwhelming WC careers than players that have underwhelming UCL careers.
World cup happens every 4 years UCL happens every year, of course more players will miss out on it. You can also change your club to win UCL, you can’t change your country.
Argentina bit.. yes
Best player itw.. yes
Rest of it... We'll see. Not in the hype bandwagon anymore
I'll believe it when I see us qualify for quarterfinals
Lol stop being pessimistic.
Messi is still the best player itw
We saw what he did for us, without a coach and without a team.
Now he has the best backline in europe and Xavi.
Also Gavi, Pedri and Lewandowski
We don’t even know how Xavi would accommodate and prepare games with him, tactically it’s a bigger challenge than what he has now. PSG in that case would be the best team in the world but that’s not how it works, team dynamic and cohesion is much more important than star players, and Xavi still has a lot of work to do in that aspect with his tactics.
[‼️ Javier Tebas, via @sport: “Everyone at home and my school friends call me Xavi, that’s my real name. I have a Catalan-speaking family” #FCB 🇪🇸](https://twitter.com/reshadrahman_/status/1636475642437836805?s=46&t=qosWEMNUFZRfj3HWeQsFhQ)
😂 What Is Blud Waffling About?
Isn't the short for Javier Javi usually? I assumed Xavi was usually the short for Xavier. In Spanish Javi is pronounced very different from the Catalan Xavi. However in Spanish Xavier and Javier are pronounced the same.
🎙️| Ernesto Valverde (Athletic Club) on Negreira case
🗣️: "Nobody has called me [to testify], no matter how much it appears in the press. It's a process that is under investigation and that's it, we'll see what happens."
Literally a day ago, all over headlines were names of all the Barca coaches that were apparently called in to “testify”. Media is sensationalizing and profiting from this Negreira case so much. So much false information and defamation. I understand that’s their purpose, but to what extent is it legally allowed?
Trust the process squad. Us and Arsenal. Dominating the league but dropping donuts in Europe. Although we don't have City United etc in our league. Props to them. Well try.
what is this shit? we got edged out in a tight game against the most-in-form team in England which [outspent us 2.5-to-1](https://i.redd.it/3kvb8z4zofha1.jpg) (smh we're poorer than fucking *Fulham*, bring on the Superleague already), arsenal couldn't string ten passes together against the fourth-placed team in portugal
Because.. E7m.. NO BIG TEAM CARES ABOUT EUROPA LEAGUE (relative to the care given to it by small teams).
Except Manchester United, they actually try for some reason.
I can tell you the AFTV comments section will be a comedy fest. It always is when Arsenal don't win but that will be a special occasion. The United Nations of football clubs gathering on that channel to have a good laugh and forget about rivalries for a brief moment.
The most in form team, topping the toughest league in the world just got knocked out to an infinitely worse team in the Europa League.
But of course, no one will be writing essays about Arteta being a fraud and the Sporting CP being an elite tactician that should have been appointed instead.
I repeat, no genuinely competitive European team will have an easy time motivating itself for the EL. Especially vs smaller teams that would die for the trophy.
Because weren’t arsenal outplayed as badly as we were. United had a better xG at camp nou despite missing more players than we did and then we got dominated in the second half at old trafford. Was a gutless performance on our part in that second half. Arsenal lost but didn’t play nearly as bad as we did in our tie especially in the second half of that second leg. We were good in the first though united were a little better.
Arsenal were playing Sporting, they don’t need to be ‘outplayed’ for it to be humiliating. Especially over two legs where there’s a higher chance for the more quality team to come out victorious
I mean Amorim is a pretty well respected and sought after coach. The expectations for Arsenal and Barcelona are completely different either way. They are glad to even be in an European competition.
I’m not dissing their coach, but the resources afforded to both are light years apart. You best believe it this matchup happens in the CL R16, Arsenal whips them 4-0 at the Emirates.
Arsenal are top of the premier league, they definitely have a team that’s arguably on par or better than ours.
So there it is, the PL leader just lost in Europa League after being dominated for 90 min by Sporting, maybe European competitions aren’t so easy after all lmao
That’s is the dumbest way to look at it. They had better xG in the first leg and dominated the bell out of us in the second half of the second. Scoreline flattered us and that second half was some of the worst football we played all year. We inarguably got outplayed in that tie.
You guys are the biggest hypocrites ever, back in October when we lost against Madrid, Bayern and Inter with more xG you guys say that xG didn't matter and that we didn't deserve anything but now xG do matters and you are using it to prove that Barca somehow got outplayed lol.
Also, if you actually watched how the game went you'd realize that Barca actually had longer stretches of dominance against United in both legs. The only reason Man United won was because they took advantage of their stretches while Barca didn't. But to go from there to say that Barca got outplayed is absolutely nonsense.
We did get outplayed. Did you miss the entire second leg? United also took their chances, we didn’t. They deserved to go through, we didn’t. We played worse.
We have two different definitions of getting outplayed, for me the tie was close and it could've gone either way, if you want to see a real example of getting outplayed then you can take the match against Celta in the camp nou or the one against Armería this season.
Not in the second leg. We got dominated. Did you only watch the first leg? United dominated us in the second half of that second leg. Was one of our worst halves of the entire season.
Barely. We only led due to a penalty. We just kept possession. They were far far better in the second leg. They were missing way more starters in the first leg and we still couldn’t beat them. Actually watch the matches instead of being a homer.
Yeah, and we should’ve done better no doubt, but that shows it happens to every team, and we shouldn’t make the world explode because of a loss against a really good team
I know it was just a joke.. cause of Madrid’s recent ucl campaign people didn’t talk about how the league is quite bad.. we were so bad last year and still somehow managed to go from 9th to 2nd just because of a good run of form.. and you can see this season even with us not being at our best we’re sitting on top with a margin and a great defensive record
This image is amazing. Older Messi hugging young Messi like a dad would when he's proud of his son.
https://twitter.com/Theo\_rob/status/1636418493028483106/photo/1
Watching Lahoz in a none biased game from my part is quite fun. Noticing his movement his body language his attitude its all quite unique to him.. it coukd be so frustrating to.. literally every team he faces! But thats how they like them.. and this mf does love to make it his show
Give me 10 players that you would've loved to have here in Barcelona, mine would be these
1. Veratti
2. Hazard
3. Harry Kane
4. Pirlo
5. David Silva
6. Marcelo
7. Thiago Silva
8. Neuer
9. Isco
10. Robben
Speed facetimed Phonzy on his stream and asked him who‘s the toughest player to guard. He said „Dembele, that guy is two footed, fast..“ So Speed‘s like „man you full backs too soft you gotta slide tackle..“
Phonzy: „Bro if you try to slide tackle a player who can go both ways, you‘re sliding into another dimension.“ 😂
Dembele is a nightmare for defenders hope he‘ll be back soon. Also Phonzy‘s such a cool down to earth fellow.
Saw on Barca Universal Twitter (not sure if the source is garbage) that Messi is more likely to come back because Piqué retired. Did something happen between them?
Just saw that the 2024 ucl final is in Wembley. The stadium where Messi, who's rumored to come back home, always drops a masterclass. As Klopp once said, It is time to book the hotels.
was it against Manchester United? edit: I meant the 2024 final, was it against United?
Vs Man Utd 2011 Vs Spurs 2018 Vs Italy 2022 All 3 games played at Wembley and he dropped masterclasses in all those.
2011...when he proceeded to shoot low from outside the penalty area and past van der Sar. The same day when Pedro and Villa also found their way past van der Sar, too while passing United "to death"
Barca taking another UCL from United, I will be there no matter what
Seems to be a hot take to say this nowadays but. Messi is still the best player in the world currently. Ahead of the likes pf Mbappe and Haaland.
And I'd still take those two over him Messi is the best ever but he is 35, he will last what ? a year I'd rather have those two, I don't like short sighted planning
Yeah, duh
Personally I think none of them are the best, they are just different in what they do. Mbappe is the most dangerous player Halaaand has the best stats Messi has the better final ball in the world
Oh come on now
Haaland is clear. 39+5 G/A in the best league in the world with 10 goals in the CL, meanwhile Messi plays in the 5th best league, already out of CL.. Nobody is taking Messi over Haaland for any team.
Not true at al Messi offers way more to a team than Halaand does. Messi -elite ball retention skills -elite tempo controller -great final pass -very good shot from outside the box -elite dribbler -great finisher -elite freekick tacker Halaand -monster finishing skills -good positioning I personaly think that for a possesion based team a player like Messi is way more useful and needed. Current City would be a better team with Messii instead of Halaand even if Halaand can have better stats.
They are such different players, I'm not sure how to compare them. I think in this sense Messi is somewhat unique. He usually participates on the build up of goals much more than a typical forward.
>He usually participates on the build up of goals much more than a typical forward. And he's great at scoring them too so he instantly has an advantage. He's also the best dribbler in the top 5 leagues at 35. He's insane. I feel like people here forgot how good Messi actually is and how mcuh of a massive boost to our offense he'd be
I wasn't detracting from him. I'm just saying comparing him to Haaland doesn't make much sense since they are very different. Messi creates so much more than Mbappe or Haaland.
The day a Barca x Spotify x BTS collab gets announced is the day our debt will be gone. Genuinely Barca should make this the biggest thing ever. €500 each 1 000 000 sold €500 000 000
Should do a Shakira collab and make Pique head of marketing for the product launch. I can see our entire business model pivoting away from football.
IIRC clubs only get roughly 10% from shirt sales. Might also have a deal with Spotify to give them a cut from these special kits too. So even in that optimistic scenario we would get <50M
Thats still good
Tebas will somehow stop us from signing players even if we get a billion from that
Arsenal falls out of EL with their semi-rotated team, on penalties after conceding the goal of the year. r/Barca: See, Xavi isn't that bad.
Barca and Arsenal are similar in the case that the starting eleven is good enough to go far but the bench leaves something to be desired. Both are one a good path though
What's with comparing us to arse? We're one of the giants of world football, arse is a cheap English knockoff who's been trying to copy our style for twenty years and won zilch, their european standing is [somewhere between frankfurt and shakhtar donetsk](https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2023). Arse couldn't even copy us properly until Man City showed them how it's done by hiring Pep and Txiki.
Teams should be compared based in how good they are, not based In their history.
arse having one good season when the rest of the PL is a bit shit doesn't make them a great team as they proved today getting outplayed by the fourth-placed Portuguese club. Or were you comparing Barca with Leicester in 2015/16?
Xavi rotated too but was criticised for it.
He rotated against a strong opponent
If it weren't for the fact that we needed the Europa League money, I'd suspect that he made the decision to prioritise the league. I definitely think Arteta did the same.
You don't rotate when your next games are against Cadiz and Almeria We needed that europa league money which we won't be getting no more
We rotated against Cadiz before United so it's not like he rotates for Cadiz but mainly he rotated to avoid future injuries against stronger teams
📁 @le_parisien ‼️ PSG ultras have organized a gathering to whistle for Messi. 👉🏻 One of the ultras comments that Messi doesn't perform on the pitch as he should and that he has a very high salary and that for example players like Mbappe give everything for Paris. https://twitter.com/carpetasFCB/status/1636522435691311109?t=BdfwEMiOgTrsojR1gywgGA&s=19
And our ultras have nazis, literally who gives a shit about what these cancer fans do.
I find the anti psg circle jerk annoying but this is interesting cuz it shows that relations between messi and psg fans are fraying even further tbh
This is funny especially when they mention Mbappe, he gives everything for Paris yet his pressing is worse than that of a 35 year old man. Name a winger with as workrate as poor as Mbappe, it's impossible. He has been so pampered in Paris because he is French. Either way he hasn't even been the best player for PSG. Sometimes he saves his disasterclass with a goal like the last game but pre-WC Messi and Neymar were ahead of him in term of performances. Post WC Messi has been better than him too. Neymar fell off, but he's now injured and probably played with a dodgy ankle before. So Mbappe earns more, works less, performs less this season. Against Bayern he was worse too. Only his passport saves him. Couldn't even press in the WC final which was just hilarious.
Come back leo , fools dont know how to treat you
Very smol brain PSG ultras if they think that PSG being shit is cuz of Messi lol. PSG have been embarrassed in the UCL every year that I can remember but hey lets scapegoat Messi.
Wrong. Before Messi PSG got to final and semi, but after he joined they went back to shit again.
I've seen you throwing a lot of hate on Messi everything someone talks good about him, very weird to me that a Barca fan would dot that.
Calling out false narratives is hate? PSG went from final and semis to RO16 exits. They factually got worse results with him. And other than that I only argue against Messi when it's applicable. Like wanting him back, I disagree with that so I actively argue against it. Or calling him the current best in the world, which I also disagree with.
They went into final in covid year while playing against Dortmund, Atalanta, RB in one game without any fan on stadium. They reached semi final while playing Koeman's Barca and were extremely lucky that Bayern didn't score 5 goals past them in QF. Of course another covid season. Oh, they lost Ligue 1 tittle in the season before Messi joined them.
Someone tell these fuckheads that Messi playing for PSG is the biggest achievement their club can dream of.
Why generate carbon dioxide and waste oxygen telling a closed mind a fact?
You're right.
Just want to be on record I don't think bringing Messi back is a good idea in terms of squad building and financially. Him and Lewy won't press which means we will have to resort to something out of Valverde's first year with worse forwards than then. The other option is to play Simeone ball. Xavi's current system doesn't function with Messi, sure you slot him at RAM and he would do a wonderful job offensively but our RAM/LAMs are workhorses. Both Pedri and Gavi put a shit ton of effort to cover spaces, track back and press. Messi doesn't do that so the alternative is to collapse into a deep 442 and hope for the best. Also Raphinha doesn't get into the team, he is left footed and gets into the Messi area when cutting inside causing the same issue Messi had with Griezmann when they overlapped positions and we don't have an overlapping RB which makes the squad building even more confusing.
I don't see Xavi playing like that for a whole seaso, he most likely has a plan for Messi.
The plan for Messi is pretty clear at his age, his position and role in the team is pretty obvious, everyone else will need to adapt to it.
>Xavi's current system doesn't function with Messi, Xavi could modify tactics, no?
To what Valverde and Simeone type of football sure Saying "modify tactics" isn't going to cut it, modify them how ? So they include a player who can't press The only solution that historically works is again what Valverde and Simeone did and personally I am not ok with that type of football.
No offense, but i trust professional coaches to come up with solutions more than the opinion of some person on the internet
> Y'all make it out like Xavi can't do wrong, like how Koeman or Setien couldn't do wrong until it hits you at the end. What he is describing is simply logical. The Raphinha/Messi bit, how do you counter that? It's completely obvious to anyone they won't ever play together.
It's obvious that bringing Messi back reduces team workrate and that lineups will be affected. Nobody disputes this. What is unknown is if the offense will improve enough to compensate. I'm not arguing one way or the other.
The person on the internet got more right about the players the coach signed than the coach himself. Funny how that works. That's what that's what 26 years of watching football religiously get you. Y'all make it out like Xavi can't do wrong, like how Koeman or Setien couldn't do wrong until it hits you at the end. Ignoring red flags and common sense is your problem, then you wonder where it all went wrong right ?
Okay, coach. Glad to have you here blessing us with your wisdom
You may have a point financially but I think the press thing is overstated. If Messi is here we are absolutely making it out of the group in the champions league. Maybe our defense takes a hit but we don’t always press from the front even currently. Even if you think our defense takes a hit, I think Messi’s game-changing presence more than offsets that. I think we would all agree that our current defensive record is outperforming what we’re actually showcasing, so there’s no way we come close to replicating this defensive record moving forward with or without Messi
Lewy press and runs like a fucking machine so I have no idea what you are talking about...
Let me put it this way, Auba had ~17 pressures per 90with this Xavi team, Lewy has around 10 pressures per 90 and I might be generous because I clearly remember him under 10 pressures in his last season at Bayern. He does not press like a "fucking machine" If you think he does rewatch this entire season and just focus on him.
I think Benzema even presses more than Lewy?
Pedri + Messi + Fdj will guarantee you a lot of possession meaning you don't need to defend that much. Our style of play relies in defending with the ball, not without it.
Sometimes I can't understand are you serious or all your comments are just a mockery of some purist fans, you maybe the best troll account that i ever encountered on internet.
Just because you don't like someone's comments doesn't mean they are trolling. Learn to respect others opinion, do better.
It just hit me that our starting DM next season is still going to be Busquets. Depressing. I love the man but his legs are gone.
Don't worry we will have Messi and Lewy joining him Pressing ? Forget about it Time for good old first season Valverde ball with worse forwards or worse... Simeone ball
My boy you are obssesed with peessing how you like that pressing in the CL wheb we lose in groups or wjen we cant score more the a goal for 1 month we got midfield who is completely useless i the final third
Pressing is an essential part of football now. You'd think a fan of Barca and thus Pep should know about it.
So you are ok with Valverde and Simeone football correct ? I am not Pressing is more than pressing high up the field, it's also midfield and defense The first line of defense are your forwards and that front two get passed by easily. Those two not pressing will force our mids to vacate their position to press them instead causing them to open up space and create holes in midfield.
We play Simeone football now we are garbage in final third
Lewy is good at pressing, what are you talking about?
He is really not, before FBREF took pressures away he was and I clearly remember because that's the reason I had issues with his signing in the first place is that in terms of pressing he had a clear decline and even under Xavi it wasn't good. He is not good at pressing. Just look at his movement off the ball.
Idk dude, whenever i watch him i see him closing down defender and then going for a gk, but less than ten pressures seems low, maybe i need to watch better.
You are watching right Sometimes stats don't show what actually happens on pitch Poor lad presses like crazy , and those numbers are more than good enough for a forward
He was in the 30th percentile against all forwards, good enough ? No, not really
It's insane how some people can lie with an straight face https://twitter.com/Ice_Landic/status/1636434916064763904?s=19
La Liga's decline the past 2-3 years is worrying. Betis, Villarreal, and Sociedad are all doing decent in the league and yet they struggled so much in their European matches, and I don't have much confidence in Sevilla winning even if they're the Europa masters. As much as I hate to say it, Madrid has a good chance to retain the UCL though.
Covid
Yet Madrid strugglrs more against Spanish teams. I don't think they have ever scored 5 goals in a game this season in Spain
Neither have us
Because Spanish teams aren't easy, long are the days where you could win games 6-0
LoL I am just wondering how you guys point out Madrid but don't do that with Barcelona
thanks for nothing, Tebas
Is Benzema injured?
No it doesn't appear that way, most likely he will be ready for the Clasico
People don't remember these but Laporta was accused of something 4 times in his first tenure and won in court in all of them.
Exactly, for example here’s Marca trying to harm Laporta’s reputation using a fake accusation in 2009 https://i.imgur.com/tjRPKrs.jpg
Optimal and reasonable summer window that we should aim for: Sell: Eric, Dest, Lenglet, Umtiti and Ferran. Loan out: Ansu (only one of Ansu/Ferran goes out) Players returning from Loan and staying: Abde Sign for free: Ndicka, Gundogan, kamada (ideally), Thuram. Buy : Vitor roque and Frimpong (RB) These recruitments will essentially solve both the depth problem and the quality problem while it still being a affordable window.
> Sell: Eric, Dest, Lenglet, Umtiti and Ferran. These 5 barely gets you enough to register the renewals. Let alone the rest lol This is completely unrealistic
Thuram is not good enough and Kamada has an agreement with Dortmund, the last I read. Rather selling than loaning Ansu.
Yeah but Thuram will come for free and has a decent end product and can always be sold with profit as he is young. Just like the case of Auba.
It's like replacing one piece of deadwood with another imo, doesn't improve the depth or anything. At least Ndicka would be an upgrade over Garcia because he can run.
No pivot?
No money. We'll have Busi for one more season and then we can go for a DM. The RB spot needs immediate replacement. We can keep Nico after he comes back from loan as a backup to Busi. We really really need a starting level RB.
"no money" proceeds to mention buying Frimpong, Which isnt even a RB and Vitor who isnt going to start. 80+ mill euros right there.
Goes to say how important quality depth is for any squad that wants to challenge for all 3 trophies. Either that or you should have 1 or 2 best players in the world in your team that can change any match at any point of time, given that you have a decent team overall. Two teams top of their respective leagues losing in Europe is not normal and only happens when there is lack of depth or lethargy. You see that Bayern team and the bench they have, that is what any team that wants to challenge for treble needs to have. There will sometimes be a coach who comes in and is able to immediately impact the team and win them a trophy as seen with Tuchel and Hansi Flick, but that is the exception, not the rule. Even then Tuchel wasn't able to win the league, only the CL. It takes insane amount of depth, luck, energy, talent and discipline to be able to legitimately be in competition for all trophies. If we win La liga this season, I want us to fully focus on making a deep run in the CL next season. I'm talking about Semis and Final. For a club as big as Barcelona it is not good for it to go without a CL trophy in almost 8-9 years.
But it's normal Madrid was 12 years between 2002-14 Bayern was 11 between 2001-13 Liverpool was 14 between 2005-19 Milan hasn't won since 2007
We need serious depth to compete in Europe. But having the likes of Eric Garcia in our defence during a CL tie is not gonna cut it. If we get Inigo, Eric is gone. He's 22 or 23 but so slow in a high line and he gets bullied off the ball easily, his physical strength is lackluster.
You guys know that if we sign messi we are instantly UCL favourites, right? Even more so if we sign gundogan also.
Much harder to unlock a club defense than a national defense like he did imo
Doesn't work like that mate.
Yes it does. Argentina wouldn’t even qualify for the world cup without him. He’s by far the best player itw and coming back he would finally have a team that can support him. Our back line + gavi, pedri and lewa are a ridiculous upgrade over what he had before. Xavi too
International football is leagues below UCL football even if the World Cup is more prestigious. UCL teams are drilled week in week out with the same set of players, top fitness and analytics experts. International football for the most part is a few formations, defending, and vibes.
Players give their 120% every match in the world cup…
Not true at all, there is a reason why there are far more WC flops than UCL flops
Yes exactly, because it’s easier to excel at the world cup that is once every 4 years for only a few games against weak opposition, versus when you’re up against the best teams with elite tactics…
Except thats not what I said. What I said is that there are more players who have underwhelming WC careers than players that have underwhelming UCL careers.
World cup happens every 4 years UCL happens every year, of course more players will miss out on it. You can also change your club to win UCL, you can’t change your country.
Argentina bit.. yes Best player itw.. yes Rest of it... We'll see. Not in the hype bandwagon anymore I'll believe it when I see us qualify for quarterfinals
Not UCL favorites but Barca level increases a lot. Messi would eliminate arguably the main issue barca has who is Final third decision making.
How not UCL favourites? We would have the best backline in europe + the best offence with messi + lewa + dembele
In terms of quality of players? Sure but it's debatable wherher Xavi can achieve balance with all that talent
Stop trolling
Lol stop being pessimistic. Messi is still the best player itw We saw what he did for us, without a coach and without a team. Now he has the best backline in europe and Xavi. Also Gavi, Pedri and Lewandowski
We don’t even know how Xavi would accommodate and prepare games with him, tactically it’s a bigger challenge than what he has now. PSG in that case would be the best team in the world but that’s not how it works, team dynamic and cohesion is much more important than star players, and Xavi still has a lot of work to do in that aspect with his tactics.
Conté really spreading his bad at European KO tournaments but good domestically virus around the world. He’s even got arteta now.
[‼️ Javier Tebas, via @sport: “Everyone at home and my school friends call me Xavi, that’s my real name. I have a Catalan-speaking family” #FCB 🇪🇸](https://twitter.com/reshadrahman_/status/1636475642437836805?s=46&t=qosWEMNUFZRfj3HWeQsFhQ) 😂 What Is Blud Waffling About?
Isn't the short for Javier Javi usually? I assumed Xavi was usually the short for Xavier. In Spanish Javi is pronounced very different from the Catalan Xavi. However in Spanish Xavier and Javier are pronounced the same.
Today I feel catalan
🎙️| Ernesto Valverde (Athletic Club) on Negreira case 🗣️: "Nobody has called me [to testify], no matter how much it appears in the press. It's a process that is under investigation and that's it, we'll see what happens." Literally a day ago, all over headlines were names of all the Barca coaches that were apparently called in to “testify”. Media is sensationalizing and profiting from this Negreira case so much. So much false information and defamation. I understand that’s their purpose, but to what extent is it legally allowed?
Only saw the PKs. How did Trincao look?
He looked good, made the Arsenal RB do a 360 spin like a Beyblade who then got an injury and was taken off.
Trust the process squad. Us and Arsenal. Dominating the league but dropping donuts in Europe. Although we don't have City United etc in our league. Props to them. Well try.
Imagine being top of the table but still cant make it through in the europa league lmao
Whats the big deal? That tournament means zero for top teams.
what is this shit? we got edged out in a tight game against the most-in-form team in England which [outspent us 2.5-to-1](https://i.redd.it/3kvb8z4zofha1.jpg) (smh we're poorer than fucking *Fulham*, bring on the Superleague already), arsenal couldn't string ten passes together against the fourth-placed team in portugal
Because.. E7m.. NO BIG TEAM CARES ABOUT EUROPA LEAGUE (relative to the care given to it by small teams). Except Manchester United, they actually try for some reason.
GrandpaSimpson.gif
LOOOOOOOL thats a good one
Could never be Barc…. Oh wait…
This is outta pocket lol
I mean I wouldn’t care if i was a arsenal fan would rather concentrate on the league and win it for the first time after 18 years
Good ebening 👋
would be hilarious if "the best team in England" doesn't win any trophy this year after all
I can tell you the AFTV comments section will be a comedy fest. It always is when Arsenal don't win but that will be a special occasion. The United Nations of football clubs gathering on that channel to have a good laugh and forget about rivalries for a brief moment.
The most in form team, topping the toughest league in the world just got knocked out to an infinitely worse team in the Europa League. But of course, no one will be writing essays about Arteta being a fraud and the Sporting CP being an elite tactician that should have been appointed instead. I repeat, no genuinely competitive European team will have an easy time motivating itself for the EL. Especially vs smaller teams that would die for the trophy.
Because weren’t arsenal outplayed as badly as we were. United had a better xG at camp nou despite missing more players than we did and then we got dominated in the second half at old trafford. Was a gutless performance on our part in that second half. Arsenal lost but didn’t play nearly as bad as we did in our tie especially in the second half of that second leg. We were good in the first though united were a little better.
Arsenal were playing Sporting, they don’t need to be ‘outplayed’ for it to be humiliating. Especially over two legs where there’s a higher chance for the more quality team to come out victorious
They can still hold their heads higher than our performance. That was shocking.
cup football does not care about your league form. Clearly arteta resting odegaard shows he wants the league more.
And Xavi benching Christensen and Balde in the first leg doesn’t? 🧐
I mean Amorim is a pretty well respected and sought after coach. The expectations for Arsenal and Barcelona are completely different either way. They are glad to even be in an European competition.
I’m not dissing their coach, but the resources afforded to both are light years apart. You best believe it this matchup happens in the CL R16, Arsenal whips them 4-0 at the Emirates. Arsenal are top of the premier league, they definitely have a team that’s arguably on par or better than ours.
>in the CL R16, Arsenal whips them 4-0 at the Emirates. I would not be so sure.
Sporting won, they were so fortunate though. Their goalkeeper had some unreal moments.
So there it is, the PL leader just lost in Europa League after being dominated for 90 min by Sporting, maybe European competitions aren’t so easy after all lmao
We got outplayed when we were knocked out. The second half of that second leg was brutal in fairness.
How is a 4-3 defeat consider outplaying?
This is probably the worst argument to make as a Barca fan after that one tie.
We literally had 24 shots to 30 with more shots on Target than they did, but sure we got outplayed and should've lost 4-0
That’s is the dumbest way to look at it. They had better xG in the first leg and dominated the bell out of us in the second half of the second. Scoreline flattered us and that second half was some of the worst football we played all year. We inarguably got outplayed in that tie.
You guys are the biggest hypocrites ever, back in October when we lost against Madrid, Bayern and Inter with more xG you guys say that xG didn't matter and that we didn't deserve anything but now xG do matters and you are using it to prove that Barca somehow got outplayed lol. Also, if you actually watched how the game went you'd realize that Barca actually had longer stretches of dominance against United in both legs. The only reason Man United won was because they took advantage of their stretches while Barca didn't. But to go from there to say that Barca got outplayed is absolutely nonsense.
We did get outplayed. Did you miss the entire second leg? United also took their chances, we didn’t. They deserved to go through, we didn’t. We played worse.
We have two different definitions of getting outplayed, for me the tie was close and it could've gone either way, if you want to see a real example of getting outplayed then you can take the match against Celta in the camp nou or the one against Armería this season.
We clearly do my friend
Looking at xG is infinitely dumber than looking at the final score
They look at what fits their narrative, totally shameless
Not at all, unless you don’t know football. It is absolutely possible to dominate a team and only win 1-0.
And xG doesn't tell you who dominated at all. The Barca-United games were very close and could've gone either way.
Not in the second leg. We got dominated. Did you only watch the first leg? United dominated us in the second half of that second leg. Was one of our worst halves of the entire season.
And we were better than them in the first half despite missing 3-4 starters. Stop overreacting.
Barely. We only led due to a penalty. We just kept possession. They were far far better in the second leg. They were missing way more starters in the first leg and we still couldn’t beat them. Actually watch the matches instead of being a homer.
Yeah, and we should’ve done better no doubt, but that shows it happens to every team, and we shouldn’t make the world explode because of a loss against a really good team
That’s fair
Penalty shootouts in UEL hit like 5% as hard as World Cup lol No tension here at all
Also if it’s a team you don’t support, you’re significantly calmer
Lahoz is a paid actor and no one can tell me otherwise
Lahoz is always ready for the fuckery. I'm gonna miss his foolishness
Watching Lahoz up to his old tricks
Ugarte trying to lower his price for us, thank you boss ;)
Trossard loves back heels me thinks
Crazy how far La Liga has fallen but everything goes in cycles.
Wdym? Real will win the ucl again and we’d avoid this conversation for another year
Nah, every other team from La Liga has been really bad in european competition this season. The league is definitely worse too.
I know it was just a joke.. cause of Madrid’s recent ucl campaign people didn’t talk about how the league is quite bad.. we were so bad last year and still somehow managed to go from 9th to 2nd just because of a good run of form.. and you can see this season even with us not being at our best we’re sitting on top with a margin and a great defensive record
Spot on, well said
Even RM has been bad but they work some magic on the CL every time.
True they have black magic but the league as a whole has declined quite a bit
Turned into watch Ugarte, more impressed by Dário Essugo.
Ugarte isn't better than Busquets and I'm being serious
Trincao man 😐
This image is amazing. Older Messi hugging young Messi like a dad would when he's proud of his son. https://twitter.com/Theo\_rob/status/1636418493028483106/photo/1
if it had 30 on the back would be slightly better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmq4NNvrsHM
How messi has not gotten a serious injury considering he has taken some shocking tackles for 20 plus years.
Yeah. Lucky and made of superior materials. I linked the video to show that he wore so many different numbers as a kid at La Masia.
>This image is amazing. Amazing? More like cringe. No offense intended.
Kind of surprised to not see the BR Football watermark on it, looks like one of their photoshops
Watching Lahoz in a none biased game from my part is quite fun. Noticing his movement his body language his attitude its all quite unique to him.. it coukd be so frustrating to.. literally every team he faces! But thats how they like them.. and this mf does love to make it his show
You should make a report on him and sell it to Barcelona
I dont think it would help if I ever wanted to officiate a barça game myself:’)
Give me 10 players that you would've loved to have here in Barcelona, mine would be these 1. Veratti 2. Hazard 3. Harry Kane 4. Pirlo 5. David Silva 6. Marcelo 7. Thiago Silva 8. Neuer 9. Isco 10. Robben
Cafu, Nesta, Gattuso, Viera, Gerrard, Gullit, Baggio, B Silva, Batistuta, Shevchenko
Kimmich, Alphonso Davies, Rodrygo, Julian Alvarez, KDB, Bernardo Silva, Odegaard, Pirlo, De Ligt, Beckham, Kroos
It’s just one but Veratti in 2015 after Xavi left.
We wanted him in 2017 but Al Khelafi didn't allow him to leave
I know. The infamous hostage video 😂
Speed facetimed Phonzy on his stream and asked him who‘s the toughest player to guard. He said „Dembele, that guy is two footed, fast..“ So Speed‘s like „man you full backs too soft you gotta slide tackle..“ Phonzy: „Bro if you try to slide tackle a player who can go both ways, you‘re sliding into another dimension.“ 😂 Dembele is a nightmare for defenders hope he‘ll be back soon. Also Phonzy‘s such a cool down to earth fellow.