Greatest quotes of football :
1.“The downfall of the great has always been the joy of the mediocre.”
2. " Ronaldo still has to achieve Messi's failures"
In the last 12 years, Argentina have reached seven major finals of which they have won three. They lost two after extra time and two on penalties. With the passage of time we will realise what an extraordinary achievement this is.
I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, save this post and read it later. Don’t miss this trust me.
I just want to put one final point on Messi’s story: football has never truly been an individual sport—except when it came to him.
Football is a team game. No matter how great you are, you still need the players around you to compete, even if the entire system is built to maximize your strengths.
Yet even with Messi, people kept repeating the same old narrative about Xavi, Iniesta, and Guardiola. The reality is that Messi only spent about four years playing with that historic generation, and even that team looked lost before Guardiola arrived. Messi contributed just as much to their greatness as they did to his.
When that generation left, Barcelona became almost entirely dependent on Messi for two years. Then Luis Enrique arrived, along with Suárez and Neymar, not to carry Messi, but to help share the burden.
After Neymar left, and with Suárez well past his best, Messi was once again carrying Barcelona almost entirely by himself, surrounded by average players. He was one game away from another historic treble, and once again, he was the team’s standout player.
Many people forget that in 2014, after Messi became La Liga’s all-time leading scorer with a hat-trick against Sevilla, Barcelona fans were handed flyers asking: “What if you woke up tomorrow and Messi was no longer at Barcelona?” Even then, some people still couldn’t bring themselves to give him the credit he deserved.
Messi even wanted to leave in 2020, and the situation nearly ended up in court. But he stayed because he didn’t want to fight the club he loved. In the end, he was still forced out in one of the saddest exits in football history.
Argentina was no different.
For years, Messi carried one of the worst-run national teams in modern football. In 2010, Maradona played Germany with four attackers because he believed more forwards meant more goals. Argentina lost 4–0.
Yet Messi was the one blamed.
He was called a failure, a choker, and a coward by people who ignored the reality that, without him, Argentina might not even have qualified for the 2014 World Cup. Every Copa América final they reached was because Messi got them there in the first place.
The difference was enormous: with Messi, Argentina reached finals; without him, they struggled even against much weaker opponents.
The 2022 World Cup wasn’t just about a great team—it was also about Messi bringing confidence, leadership, and belief to a group of players who followed him. He carried the responsibility while everyone else played their role.
Even in the latest World Cup, at 39 years old, Messi was covering huge areas of the pitch, playing 120 minutes repeatedly, and constantly finding new ways to win games almost by himself.
Most people will never care about these details or this context. Future generations will only look at trophies and short tournaments.
In the end, every argument people used against Messi eventually disappeared. They said he had no World Cup—he won it. They said he had no Copa América—he won it too.
To me, Messi is the most unfairly judged player in football history. No player has been blamed for more things beyond his control or had more false narratives attached to his name.
That’s Messi’s story—through logic, reality, and everything he had to endure.
Dejadme decir una cosa sobre Argentina
Se han convertido en el villano de película perfecto, en el mundo anglosajón y en otras culturas. Y yo lo que veo es una nación que, sobre el campo, hace todo lo posible por ganar. De hecho, defendieron de maravilla contra España, ya fuera cuando se presentaron uno contra uno, o cuando se atrincheraron en su área. Pero no les dimos el balón, con lo que no nos pudieron atacar o crear las condiciones necesarias para que Messi destacara.
Llegar a la final del mundial con un equipo que no era el mejor tiene un mérito enorme, aunque a menudo se acentuaron las características menos atractivas de una selección que tiene mil registros para ganar. Es una selección ganadora, y hay mucho de envidia en la reacción internacional.
Pero me da la impresión de que en Argentina el fútbol se vive como una sola posibilidad: victoria. La derrota es culpa de alguien (como se dice en la canción, os robaron la del 90). Victoria o desastre.
Y eso explica (pero nunca debería justificar) el comportamiento de algunos jugadores argentinos al final del partido.
Tampoco estuvo bien darle la espalda al campeón. Por lo que vi, solo Messi se giró a ver cómo levantaban la copa. En el deporte hay que respetar la derrota (usarla para crecer), pero entiendo que debe ser difícil tener la pasión que se siente por la selección y seguir todos los códigos del deporte al considerar la victoria mucho más que un triunfo deportivo.
De nuevo, yo me quedo con el faro que es Messi que suele dar siempre la pista buena de cómo se un gran deportista.
Honestly 2022 is what we asked for and Messi delivered
2026 is when none of us had any expectations and Messi exceeded those expectations and made us believe. Leo Messi from the bottom of my heart thankyou for this ❤️
3 goals were disallowed in the Argentina vs Saudi Arabia game. Argentina lost the game and nobody cried about the World Cup being rigged
The World Cup is rigged only when you’re unhappy
On This Day 1982
BBC World Cup Grandstand…LIVE
4:05 - 6:05pm
Group C
The day I ran home from school to watch one of the greatest World Cup Finals games of all time, and a Paolo Rossi hat-trick.
Italy 3-2 Brazil
Commentator John Motson
#WorldCup#FIFAWorldCup#Italy#Brazil #Rossi
Major cheat code for life: Learn to delay your reaction. Anger, fear, and impulse will try to make you move fast. There's power in pausing. In the pause, you see clearly, you respond wisely, and you avoid decisions you'll regret. Slow down to speed up.
🚨🇭🇹 “WE DESERVE ANSWERS” — HAITI CAPTAIN JOHNNY PLACIDE QUESTIONS OFFICIATING AFTER SCOTLAND DEFEAT
🗣️ Johnny Placide:
“This is not about making excuses. Scotland played their game and got the result, and we respect them for that. But at the same time, we cannot ignore what happened on the pitch.”
“There were two moments that, from where we stood, looked like clear penalties. We waited for VAR to intervene, we waited for explanations, but nothing came. As players, we dedicate our lives to this competition, so naturally we want clarity.”
“All we are asking for is transparency. If those incidents were not penalties, then tell us why. Show us the reasoning. Let the fans understand the decision-making process. Football is the biggest sport in the world and accountability should be part of it.”
💔 “The dressing room was silent after the final whistle. Many players felt heartbroken because we believed we had done enough to get something from the match. Moments like these can change games, especially at a World Cup where every point matters.”
🇭🇹 “Haiti may not be one of the traditional giants of world football, but our players, our supporters and our nation deserve the same respect as everyone else. We are proud to represent our country and we simply want fairness.”
The comments have sparked widespread debate among supporters, with many Haiti fans demanding greater transparency from officials following the controversial defeat to Scotlan.