Raghav Narula

mostly football

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

@sudhirchaudhary 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻loser loser

[cristian cambronero @cambronero]

Si solo van a leer una cosa hoy, ojalá sea este poderoso artículo. La desinformación, hoy, es un arma de destrucción masiva.

[Appie Culé @appiecule]

I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, bookmark it and come back later.

Do you know the biggest problem with Cristiano Ronaldo? It isn’t that he never won the World Cup. It’s that he spent years telling everyone what separates legends, only to change the standards once he couldn’t reach them himself.

After winning Euro 2016, Ronaldo made it clear that winning a major international trophy was what completed a player’s legacy. At the time, Messi had just lost another international final and was going through the toughest period of his career. Those comments only added to the narrative that Messi could never be the greatest because he hadn’t won with Argentina. For years, that became the standard. Messi was called a bottler, while Ronaldo was praised as the player who had proved himself internationally.

Nobody wanted to hear about context. Nobody cared that Messi had dragged Argentina to a World Cup final in 2014 with a squad many considered weaker than the Portugal teams Ronaldo has had over the last decade. The only thing that mattered was that Ronaldo had won a major trophy with his country, and Messi hadn’t.

Then Messi won the Copa América. Suddenly, the goalposts moved. We were told one Euro was worth more than multiple Copa América titles because South America supposedly wasn’t competitive enough. That became the new excuse.

Then Messi won the World Cup. The excuses changed again. It was “fixed.” It was “scripted.” Then came, “A career can’t be defined by seven games.” Funny how nobody was saying that before the tournament, when many believed it would finally be Ronaldo’s chance to win it.

Now Portugal have been eliminated from the World Cup, and Ronaldo posts about Euro 2016 again. That’s what I find ironic. When international trophies favored Ronaldo, they were the ultimate measure of greatness. When Messi caught up, people started ranking competitions differently. When Messi surpassed him by winning the biggest trophy in football, suddenly the World Cup wasn’t supposed to define a career anymore.

That’s the contradiction.

The difference between Messi and Ronaldo was never just about goals, assists, or trophies. It’s about consistency. Messi never needed to diminish Ronaldo’s achievements to elevate his own, nor did he ask football to change its standards because they no longer favored him. He simply kept playing until he won everything there was to win.

League titles. Champions Leagues. Ballons d’Or. Golden Boots. Copa América. Finalissima. World Cup. Every major trophy that was ever used against him eventually became part of his legacy.

Cristiano Ronaldo will always be one of the greatest footballers to ever play the game. But this is exactly why I believe Messi is the greatest. He didn’t ask football to rewrite the standards.

He met every single one of them.

[🕊 @Armzinnho]

Was just watching this recently, sums it up perfectly

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

Hansi Flick ball.

[Barcastuff @barcasstuff]

Show me another footballer that commands as much respect and leadership as Lionel Messi.

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

just want to see messi play again

[B/R Football @brfootball]

On Tuesday, Alexis Mac Allister was asked to describe beating Brazil… 🇦🇷

Interviewer: “𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠…”

AMA: "𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒏"

(via @TyCSports)

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

jubilee line 🐐

[tag @mxdric]

I really got to watch Messi's entire career from beginning to end. It's something that we take for granted, we will never see anything like it again. If we even get to see a player 70% as good as Messi I would be shocked

[All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 @AlbicelesteTalk]

🥹❤️ Emiliano Martínez on Messi:

“Messi represents what an Argentine is. Family-oriented, he gives everything for his children and his wife. He loves football, he gives everything on the field. The example, the role model to follow is Messi. Being the most famous in the world, that he loves his family and takes care of his children as much as he does is a source of pride.

“He is the first and only player in history to complete the football. He finishes his career as an idol, not only as a player but as a person.” @SofiMMartinez

[Barça Pictures #14 @Barca__pictures]

3 shots on target 3 goals for FCBarcelona in a UCL match

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

oh messi

[Messi Fanatic @MessiFanatic_]

For a person who is such an introvert to reach this level of fame, popularity, love and affection simply based on his football is incredible. Messi isn’t repeatable.

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

His dream came true 😏

[Roy Nemer @RoyNemer]

Mateo Messi takes no prisoners. 😳

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

MESSSI😳😳😳😵

[MC @CrewsMat10]

Messi’s assist vs Croatia is peak cinema https://t.co/cUMBc9i7Uc

[Raghav Narula @raghavn13]

messi 🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻🤲🏻