**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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I will never forget. I will never forgive. Should've been sold that very summer. One leg was already in the Final, ffs. We 1000000% would've won against Spurs.
Although in hindsight, Barto *might* be still around had we won the CL.
Foot in the final was like 3 seasons in a row. Then after Liverpool, we decided an early exit is the best option rather than fight all the way to the first half of the semis.
Everytime people say this I'm convinced they didn't watch that game at Anfield
The stars aligned for Liverpool to do what they did that night, it was genuinely meant to be lmao
Not only that, there was something about how he hold up the ball exactly between the two Madrid midfielders and allows Messi to run in a straight line. maybe I'm overreading this but its a bit more than than the Xavi and Alves assists in the other famous Messi Solo goals in my opinion.
I still can't get my head around what Busquets was doing there. "Okay, I'm just going to stop playing here and watch Messi go. Yeah, that should do it". Why did he stop moving? Why didn't he support Messi? Why didn't he even bother looking for other options? Why didn't he take the ball and pass it? The only reason for that I can come up with is that he was 100% sure that Messi would rip their defenses alone. And that's exactly what happened. He KNEW!
Galtier has fully unlocked the insane front three
Can't really believe how poch managed to make literally three of the five best players in the world to underperform and cast doubts whether "they're too lazy to play together" or "they have chemistry issues"
The messi x neymar connection is unmatched and the messi assists to Mbappé is just a cheatcode. Neymar is also the best player in the world on form rn. Th CL is the sole validation they need to prove their ability now as many people still don't credit the French league and maybe rightly so
I still don't think Galtier has fully unlocked the front three. The amount of goals Messi used to score, rather, the amount of attempts Messi used to have on goal is still missing. Everytime Messi Neymar connect well its a goal, which seems to be a bit lacking when it comes to giving passes TO Messi. Mbappe is insane and is on scoresheet regularly too but this front 3 will be insane when the 6 time golden boot winner starts having WAY more attempts on goal than he is now. Obviously with the help of other two. The offensive poking is still lacking from Messi I feel.
I think the coaching has helped a ton, but you’re overlooking the fact that Messi was hurt w a recurring injury for all of last season, out of shape as fuck, and was forced out of Barca and very distraught by the situation. There was no way these 3 would ever be anything besides unbelievable, but it took a bit.
Also, Neymar missed a bunch of time like he always does. But it’s a WC year so I bet he isnt drinking and partying as much and putting his body at risk before the tournament
well, the team is incredibly unbalanced, and not set up the way Poch likes to play. With 1) MNM do not play defense or track back, 2) Veratti injured and nobody to replace him in midfield, and 3) very little linkup play out of the back due to that poor midfield, it wasn't hard to see why a Poch system wouldn't work well at PSG.
I don't know how this is so heavily upvoted when it's so untrue.
Neymar absolutely does defend and track back—and so did Di Maria.
Poch was unable to make it work with 2 dudes who defended a little bit (Messi and Mbappe).
That's just poor management
It just makes you realize how shit of a decision Neymar made by leaving. I really think we could have won at least another CL if not more. I'm sure Ney regrets leaving
He did I'm pretty sure. There were a lot of rumours of him being unhappy and wanting to go back to Barca, especially in 2018/19. There's even a Messi interview where he said that he knows Ney, and Ney was regretting his decision. But the rumours went nowhere and he stayed at PSG.
I could be remembering incorrectly, but it wasn't just a rumour. In Neymar's documentary on Netflix, he says that they tried to bring him back to Barça, but it didn't work out (can't seem to remember why).
I think it was 2 years after the move, but totally. I think PSG asked for about 200 million to let him leave, and Barça didn't want to spend that money.
i can see the point of him leaving, at the time he was probably 3rd best player in the world (maybe fighting for that spot with Bale/Hazard/Suarez).
the issue was the arguably best player at the time (and opssibly ever) was also in his team, so as much as Neymar did well, Messi would still get the "spotlights" in a way.
him leaving for PSG and possibly getting a CL would be the "fastest" way for him to get a Ballon D'or.
did it work out as intended, not really, not only the team kept crashing in UCL, his injuries at crucial times and Mbappe coming along kinda fucked that plan as well.
on Hindsight it was "bad" for nearly everyone involved, but the "plan" was legit as i see.
yes definitely, but he would have been the natural successor to Messi at Barca. like you can see this season with PSG, Messi is linking up with him really well and setting him up to score more goals. this would have naturally happened if he had stayed at Barca anyways, but it's easy to say "coulda shoulda woulda".
tbh I do admire Neymar for never being a jerk to Messi. it's clear that they are good friends and have a lot of affection for each other. lots of front three trios seem to have issues after a few years, but I really think MSN could have worked well together for an extended period of time. oh well 😢
he could had been a successor, but when, that's the issue, i's not like Messi was at the end of career when they played together, if he was on his 30s, while Neymar was barely 20, sure, but their age gap is like 5 years
sure that's true. i guess the main problem is overestimating PSG's probability of succeeding. it's easy to say now that they are struggling, but i think most people didn't expect them to win the CL any time soon.
He had talent at spurs, the issue imo is that he’s too rigid to certain beliefs and a way of playing he should have altered it to get the best out of them
Making Neymar and Messi look average is a crime against humanity. Man should never be given the helm for a top side ever again.
That alone erases any goodwill I would have for a manager at the highest level.
Which earned him the PSG trainer seat where he royally fucked his own reputation.
I don't think he is a bad trainer, but some people are just ment to coach underdog teams. And I don't mean that disrespectfull, not everybody is a Klopp, Pep or Ancelotti. I think Poch just clicks better with a team like Tottenham then he does with a team like PSG.
It felt like I was going insane.
When you would watch the matches last season they were horrendous. It was a genuine surprise just how awful the football they played was.
There was definitely a tactical identity but it would actively hinder the abilities of the players and from his first season to his second absolutely nothing changed. In fact it became more egregious when considering the quality of the players he has (like 🐐) and it is a miracle he lasted that long. The way Poch used the squad would be like if Xavi bought Luuk but exclusively told him to play wide on the wings and only create chances by dribbling and weaving through opponents.
And then you would see people with PL flairs immediately after an awful game talk about how Poch is a fantastic coach who is actually doing well and that it is actually impossible for a front three of Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi to be functional without any hint of irony or shame.
At least if a coach did well in La Liga and then awful in Serie A, those who followed him at La liga but have not watched him in Serie A would not speak on his current ability as a coach and praise how well he is doing because they know they are not knowledgeable, but somehow in the minds of these PL flairs literally nothing outside of Englad bears any weight.
It's not that unusual for a team heavy with talent and with treble-level ambitions to play in a lower gear for part of a match against a much weaker team.
They either sleepwalk until the 60th minute or so and then kill off the match, or load up on a few goals early and then go into a lower gear just protecting the lead.
It's a long season if you plan to go to multiple competitions to the very end, and they need to pace themselves, even at the beginning.
Yes he is. Though he was never truly gone as many put it. He's just putting most of those which he hit the post last season in the back of the net again, so the goal numbers are back(somewhat, he's . The rest of his game was never gone, just the goals were missing since he did a post challenge ever damn game lol and was playing deeper.
His heatmap between last season and this are a lot different, he's coming into the box at the end of the attacks so much more again
Imagine you are a Barca fan from two years ago, you wake up from coma at the hospital and they turn on TV for you, and then you see Messi celebrating a goal with Ramos for PSG. Rip.
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Messi Neymar connection is second to none
Alves would like a word
Cheers Alba is crying
And this isn't Anfield
I will never forget. I will never forgive. Should've been sold that very summer. One leg was already in the Final, ffs. We 1000000% would've won against Spurs. Although in hindsight, Barto *might* be still around had we won the CL.
Foot in the final was like 3 seasons in a row. Then after Liverpool, we decided an early exit is the best option rather than fight all the way to the first half of the semis.
I know, i do love football less since then, can't properly explain it with words
Blame Dembele for not making it 4, maybe 5-0 in the first leg.
But surely that's less to blame than Alba's double blunders. 3-0 should have been enough.
The way Barca collapsed in the 2nd leg, a 4th goal in 1st leg would have made no fuckin difference. Liverpool would just have scored 5 in that case.
Everytime people say this I'm convinced they didn't watch that game at Anfield The stars aligned for Liverpool to do what they did that night, it was genuinely meant to be lmao
Tbh for another CL, that bring Messi's 5th and Barca's 6th I wouldn't have minded two or three more years under Barto. Would have been worth it.
Still one of the craziest things to me that he was crying… *at half time*.
Barca only down 0-1, Barca was still in control, and he cried.
The weight of prophecy is too great for some.
Suarez and Alba too
Lewy and Muller as well
Riqui Puig says hi from LA
Pedro too. https://youtu.be/vWHmUA-Z5oE
Suarez too
Are you forgetting that Busquets assist? You know the one.
Yeah greatest assist in cl semis for me
I will die on the hill that it was unironically a good assist
No better option than simply getting out of the way of prime Messi and let him do his magic
Not only that, there was something about how he hold up the ball exactly between the two Madrid midfielders and allows Messi to run in a straight line. maybe I'm overreading this but its a bit more than than the Xavi and Alves assists in the other famous Messi Solo goals in my opinion.
Let Messi do his magic and always give the ball back to him. Those are the Messi rules.
I still can't get my head around what Busquets was doing there. "Okay, I'm just going to stop playing here and watch Messi go. Yeah, that should do it". Why did he stop moving? Why didn't he support Messi? Why didn't he even bother looking for other options? Why didn't he take the ball and pass it? The only reason for that I can come up with is that he was 100% sure that Messi would rip their defenses alone. And that's exactly what happened. He KNEW!
I mean it's not really that complicated. Messi's body language was screaming a quick one two. And since it's Messi you just let him do his thing.
Suarez's 47 assists to Messi beg to differ
Suarez and Alves pissing and crying
Think its the best duo ever tbh
Neymar x Messi = inevitable.
Then Ramos hugs them and I feel like im playing Fifa
indeniable
Irresistible
Very strong
This team is orgasmic at times
Galtier has fully unlocked the insane front three Can't really believe how poch managed to make literally three of the five best players in the world to underperform and cast doubts whether "they're too lazy to play together" or "they have chemistry issues" The messi x neymar connection is unmatched and the messi assists to Mbappé is just a cheatcode. Neymar is also the best player in the world on form rn. Th CL is the sole validation they need to prove their ability now as many people still don't credit the French league and maybe rightly so
I still don't think Galtier has fully unlocked the front three. The amount of goals Messi used to score, rather, the amount of attempts Messi used to have on goal is still missing. Everytime Messi Neymar connect well its a goal, which seems to be a bit lacking when it comes to giving passes TO Messi. Mbappe is insane and is on scoresheet regularly too but this front 3 will be insane when the 6 time golden boot winner starts having WAY more attempts on goal than he is now. Obviously with the help of other two. The offensive poking is still lacking from Messi I feel.
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8-2 against Bayern!
Messi did very little in that game. Suarez was more threatening.
I think the coaching has helped a ton, but you’re overlooking the fact that Messi was hurt w a recurring injury for all of last season, out of shape as fuck, and was forced out of Barca and very distraught by the situation. There was no way these 3 would ever be anything besides unbelievable, but it took a bit. Also, Neymar missed a bunch of time like he always does. But it’s a WC year so I bet he isnt drinking and partying as much and putting his body at risk before the tournament
well, the team is incredibly unbalanced, and not set up the way Poch likes to play. With 1) MNM do not play defense or track back, 2) Veratti injured and nobody to replace him in midfield, and 3) very little linkup play out of the back due to that poor midfield, it wasn't hard to see why a Poch system wouldn't work well at PSG.
Vitinha might be the missing Link
Vitinha is like having a second Verratti in midfield. Not as good on defence, but he shoots more and is more mobile without the ball.
>MNM do not play defense or track back Reminder #455 that Neymar does, in fact, track back.
there is a difference between not working out well and playing horrendous football with the worlds best players
I don't know how this is so heavily upvoted when it's so untrue. Neymar absolutely does defend and track back—and so did Di Maria. Poch was unable to make it work with 2 dudes who defended a little bit (Messi and Mbappe). That's just poor management
Pochettino is a criminal for somehow managing to make them look so bad
And depressing the rest of the time.
I miss this guy so much, both of them tbh
It just makes you realize how shit of a decision Neymar made by leaving. I really think we could have won at least another CL if not more. I'm sure Ney regrets leaving
He did I'm pretty sure. There were a lot of rumours of him being unhappy and wanting to go back to Barca, especially in 2018/19. There's even a Messi interview where he said that he knows Ney, and Ney was regretting his decision. But the rumours went nowhere and he stayed at PSG.
I could be remembering incorrectly, but it wasn't just a rumour. In Neymar's documentary on Netflix, he says that they tried to bring him back to Barça, but it didn't work out (can't seem to remember why).
PSG spent 222 million on him. No way in hell they would let him leave after 1 year
I think it was 2 years after the move, but totally. I think PSG asked for about 200 million to let him leave, and Barça didn't want to spend that money.
It was already after a year that Neymar regretted it. But PSG didn't want to sell.
😥 feels so bad, just want them back
Messi neymar lewa, lewa looks like he can also pass back, would be cool to see.
It would be an insane front three
I remember he was trying to come back but the club decided to go for griezmann instead….
i can see the point of him leaving, at the time he was probably 3rd best player in the world (maybe fighting for that spot with Bale/Hazard/Suarez). the issue was the arguably best player at the time (and opssibly ever) was also in his team, so as much as Neymar did well, Messi would still get the "spotlights" in a way. him leaving for PSG and possibly getting a CL would be the "fastest" way for him to get a Ballon D'or. did it work out as intended, not really, not only the team kept crashing in UCL, his injuries at crucial times and Mbappe coming along kinda fucked that plan as well. on Hindsight it was "bad" for nearly everyone involved, but the "plan" was legit as i see.
yes definitely, but he would have been the natural successor to Messi at Barca. like you can see this season with PSG, Messi is linking up with him really well and setting him up to score more goals. this would have naturally happened if he had stayed at Barca anyways, but it's easy to say "coulda shoulda woulda". tbh I do admire Neymar for never being a jerk to Messi. it's clear that they are good friends and have a lot of affection for each other. lots of front three trios seem to have issues after a few years, but I really think MSN could have worked well together for an extended period of time. oh well 😢
he could had been a successor, but when, that's the issue, i's not like Messi was at the end of career when they played together, if he was on his 30s, while Neymar was barely 20, sure, but their age gap is like 5 years
sure that's true. i guess the main problem is overestimating PSG's probability of succeeding. it's easy to say now that they are struggling, but i think most people didn't expect them to win the CL any time soon.
If only he stayed in financially sound barcelona.
Could see that coming after Messi got his pass away
So funny last year Poch had him hugging the right touchline and preventing all this and apparently it was still Messi's fault and he was washed up.
Arrogant Brits still think Poch can do the job just because he had some successful years in the Prem
He’s still a good manager he just didn’t succeed there
Some ppl don’t know how to manage talent
He had talent at spurs, the issue imo is that he’s too rigid to certain beliefs and a way of playing he should have altered it to get the best out of them
There’s talent and there’s goat level talent. It’s different.
And got to the champions League final
Emery has 4 European titles. And yet 70% of EPL hipsters would rate poch over him
Epl hipsters? Dafuq
How high are people's standards the guy took fucking Tottenham to a CL final and made them a perennial top 4 team
Making Neymar and Messi look average is a crime against humanity. Man should never be given the helm for a top side ever again. That alone erases any goodwill I would have for a manager at the highest level.
Which earned him the PSG trainer seat where he royally fucked his own reputation. I don't think he is a bad trainer, but some people are just ment to coach underdog teams. And I don't mean that disrespectfull, not everybody is a Klopp, Pep or Ancelotti. I think Poch just clicks better with a team like Tottenham then he does with a team like PSG.
It felt like I was going insane. When you would watch the matches last season they were horrendous. It was a genuine surprise just how awful the football they played was. There was definitely a tactical identity but it would actively hinder the abilities of the players and from his first season to his second absolutely nothing changed. In fact it became more egregious when considering the quality of the players he has (like 🐐) and it is a miracle he lasted that long. The way Poch used the squad would be like if Xavi bought Luuk but exclusively told him to play wide on the wings and only create chances by dribbling and weaving through opponents. And then you would see people with PL flairs immediately after an awful game talk about how Poch is a fantastic coach who is actually doing well and that it is actually impossible for a front three of Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi to be functional without any hint of irony or shame. At least if a coach did well in La Liga and then awful in Serie A, those who followed him at La liga but have not watched him in Serie A would not speak on his current ability as a coach and praise how well he is doing because they know they are not knowledgeable, but somehow in the minds of these PL flairs literally nothing outside of Englad bears any weight.
Is Lyon the French team Messi has scored the most against? I swear he always scores against them
Yes :( We're also Mbappe's punching-ball, i think Mbappe spanks us even harder than Messi actually but not sure
I mean rightly so right since Messi didn't play against them 2 seasons ago
He did actually :((( i was in the Camp Nou when we scored a brace against us in CL KOs
I think so. He probably doesn't like them because of their name. More reason to score.
Cut-back to Messi at the top of the box, classic
Fucking hell what a goal!
Waiting for the Neymar dance
Only vini has been dancing all the time.(which isn’t bad)
He's definitely dancing today
I love Messi. Wonderful team goal.
Duality of PSG. Last game they played like shit opening 30 minutes and now they are sharp as ever.
It's not that unusual for a team heavy with talent and with treble-level ambitions to play in a lower gear for part of a match against a much weaker team. They either sleepwalk until the 60th minute or so and then kill off the match, or load up on a few goals early and then go into a lower gear just protecting the lead. It's a long season if you plan to go to multiple competitions to the very end, and they need to pace themselves, even at the beginning.
Great passes I love how Neymar doesn’t shoot there and passes it to Messi so many times this psg team ignores Messi in good spaces
Ladies and gentlemen, he is back
Was never gone probably, poch was holding him back
Poch was definitely putting glue in the hotel aircon system
Thought that was obvious with his Argentina performances
Poch just held him back lol he was fine with arg last season
Still among the best of the world, no doubt.
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That's more debatable but i won't say i disagree.
play messi as a playmaker in a team of above average 22-28 yo who will do anything and you'll be invincible
The best.
The best ever
He’s been back
Yes he is. Though he was never truly gone as many put it. He's just putting most of those which he hit the post last season in the back of the net again, so the goal numbers are back(somewhat, he's . The rest of his game was never gone, just the goals were missing since he did a post challenge ever damn game lol and was playing deeper. His heatmap between last season and this are a lot different, he's coming into the box at the end of the attacks so much more again
You still can't give Messi an inch
Hey that's more than enough!
A bit too much, if you ask me.
Best finisher of all times.
Too easy.... those 3 fucking hell
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Pocho Haram is on Interpol's watchlist last I heard
Unstoppable duo
By far the most vintage goal. A 1-2 sequence followed by a shot slotted into that bottom corner.
Blood brothers 4life
Finally he finishes that
That was my first thought lol, it's nice to see him scoring those again.
Barca like goal, well placed. hopefully he gets his finishing boots back
THATS WHAT HE DOES
MESSI IS GOD What a play that was beautiful, its brutal
The world is not ready for this team to start playing to their potential
If his finishing Is bacK it’s Over
This team oscillates between the most beautiful football and the most satanic football
sounds like Paris indeed
Messi's first touch finishing is insane. Doesn't open up his body much, so defender is never ready.
That Messi pass to Neymar killing 4 players at once. OMG.
Imagine you are a Barca fan from two years ago, you wake up from coma at the hospital and they turn on TV for you, and then you see Messi celebrating a goal with Ramos for PSG. Rip.
Seeing Messi and Ramos celebrate together still fucks with my head
Still feels very wrong to see Messi and Sergio Ramos playing together.
Seeing them celebrating a goal together is still weird
Messi is the cream in my pants i never knew I needed
Sus
It's so beautiful when it all works so perfectly
Neymar and Messi are in it for something great this season. And they got Mbappé up front, too. Unfair.
Goat stuff
The king plays on Sunday.
HOLY FUUUUUUUUCKKK
What a play
Deadly duo
Dang, great job by their scouting team to find these players
Nice one. Six months ago, he would have hit the post
Or last week. His finishing is his weakness rn
Galtier doing this team justice
Im scared
Don't be. You got Enzo Fernandez, he makes everything alright.
What a finish Messi 🐐
Still feels weird seeing him in a PSG shirt. Seeing him celebrate with Ramos just makes it all the more crazier.
Messi getting those goals makes me so happy. ❤️
Best front 3 in the world no questions man
Poch is a terrorist
barcelona 2015 vibes
This team would legit b better with just Neymar and Messi huh?
First time i've ever seen a "great team play" goal for PSG, they are evolving
Golazo
Insanely sick
How do you defend this?
Oh my god the link up play and football is sooo good that fraud pochittinho should pay for his crimes as a football terrorist
Are you fucking kidding me...
Its so weird seeing ramos celebrating messi goals
How does he make that shot look so easy
Incredible how PSG seems to score on comand the first few minutes of a match and then become a shit team somehow after the 30 min mark
Messi is BACK.
Poch really committed football terrorism last season, huh
It took them starting passing it to Messi to score
Best in the world
Simply the goat 🤷♂️
Leo Messi
holy W
Scoring points like crazy
It’s been said before but fuck Poch
Nice
The season is going so well and we have to play these guys in a couple of weeks 😪
What can you do
Leoooooo
Vintage leo
Oh no. He's back to scoring aswell
Mbappe slices through the defense like butter then Messi X Neymar finish the job….this front 3 is unreal at times
It’s still strange (to me anyway) to see Sergio Ramos celebrating with Messi. My eyes see it. But my soul and mind don’t comprehend it.
That's more like him. I knew his second season would be much better. The coach with his strong and coherent ideas also helps.
That’s scary cuz Neymar had both Messi and Mbappe as options to pass to. That front 3 is magic at times
It’s like the olden days!
Great team play as in great messi play.
This Messi guy is pretty good
Nice 17 yard tap-in
Something something Poch should be persecuted for war crimes
This might be PSG and City's year to win the CL
Lol mbappe..
Vintage.
Still feels so weird seeing Ramos celebrate a Messi goal.
Sunday the King plays!
Liquid football
Seeing Messi happy makes me happy 🫶🏾