Football / Soccer / Calcio / Futebol / Fußball

Get Messi’s meat out your mouth Arteta

Messi might be the GOAT, but I don't think he has influenced much because no one can replicate what he has been doing.

Ronaldo on the other hand has. I don't wanna get into detail, but definitely around work ethic, taking care of your body etc And then you can definitely look at his positioning, how he is getting rid of defenders etc and take notes

Why is he talking about Messi?

Pele is the most influential player ever. It’s not even close. He made the game truly global. Ffs they had ceasefires during wars to watch him play. Cruyff is the next because of play and managing. Then it’s Messi.

omg why do these boring ass quotes always get upvoted on here.

Best probably, but there are more influential players. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo (R9) are more influential in terms of entertainment and inspiring people. Pele or Cruyff are probably #1 in how they changed the game.

Sorry Maradona is the OG

The most entertaining and pleasing to watch sure

but most influential? what did he influence lol how to make half a team look like fools? nobody does that but him nobody else does that like messi does

Hot take.

If Messi does things that no one else can, then he is certainly the least influential player ever in the history of football.

Do people only have one understanding of the word influence? I see a shitload of the discussion here saying that Messi hasn't been influential in regards to the sport as a whole, I don't see anyone discussing Messi's ability to influence what happens on a football pitch in any given game. He's easily one of the most influential players in the history of the sport in that sense.

Messi is the goat but I'd argue Pelé and Cruyff were FAR more influential to the sport than Messi. I don't think it's even close really.

This is great and enlightening information and I'm glad this was upvoted by almost 1000 people already.

Do upvote bots just instantly upvote anything that has Messi in the title? There was a post last week that was top where they totally mispelled his first name.

I just want a coach/footballer to come out and say "Who? Messi? Never heard of him" or even a "Ye I could 1v1 that scrub, no talent" and farm clicks like crazy

Aye.

I'm not talking shit here, I genuinely think Cristiano Ronaldo us more influential.

Tapping him up? I like it

Then it wouldn't make him influential. It just makes him one of a kind becuase of his playing style. There has never been a primary playmaker who also scores a lot of goals like he did, the only player who could have done that was Neymar. Ronaldo is also one a type given how much he scored playing from the wide position and only Mbappe does that, the early Liverpool version of Salah was a bit like that but he is much more playmaker these days. Its very hard for any teams to find another Ronaldo/Messi its not like basketball where Steph Curry revolutionized how teams thought of the 3 pointers and tried to play that way.

In my own personal experience, I’d say ronaldinho. I remember being a kid when he blew up and all of my friends wanted to juggle and dribble like him. The joy he had on his face when he played is something I’ll never forget.

How is this worthy of a post is the bigger question here

OK, for the sake of discussion, and this is something I’ve thought about: can we really say Messi is all that influential if what he can do cannot be replicated by anyone else? Not just the level of his individual skills, but having so many and how he combines them.

I can't see how he's been "influential". Everyone hits a deadball in the way Ronaldo showed us, so I'd say he's been more so. Messi's just a superb footballer in his own right. No one tries to emulate him.