🚨🗣️ Novak Djokovic: "I met Messi at a restaurant in the United States. He asked me for advice about tennis. I told him: 'Please, Messi, don’t ask me that. I won’t give you any information. You dominated football and now you want to dominate tennis. No, no, play football. When I retire, then you can play tennis.'
"He laughed and told me: 'I’m lucky that football is played with the feet and not with the hands.'
"But the truth is I’m lucky Leo isn’t a tennis player, otherwise I wouldn’t win any titles. He’s the best football player of all time. I love watching him."
🚨🗣️ 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Lamine Yamal: "France have not beaten us in 2 years, so they can't be considered better than us."
"They're at an excellent level, have wonderful players, but I don't think they're above anyone."
"For me, there's no one above Spain."
The president of Cape Verde praised Messi and announced a special tribute ahead of the match against Argentina.
“ Messi is a great player, he is highly respected in Cape Verde. For us, he is the best in the world. He represents excellence and perfection in football. It is an honor to face him ,”
He also revealed that the Cape Verdean national team plans to hold a special tribute for the Argentine captain. “ We will give him a Cape Verde jersey with the number 10 and his name on it. It will be a recognition of the best player in the world ,”
Throwback to when Rakitic gave Mascherano a penalty, so he could score his first and only Barcelona goal ..
Look at the joy on their faces, prime Barcelona was a family 🥹❤️
After France defeated Argentina at the 2018 World Cup, BBC Sport wrote:
“The beginning of Kylian Mbappé’s era and the end of Lionel Messi’s.”
What followed was the exact opposite.
Messi went on to win:
- The World Cup, defeating Kylian Mbappé’s France in the final.
- 2 Copa América titles.
- The Finalissima.
- 4 league titles.
- 3 Ballon d’Or awards.
- 3 FIFA The Best awards.
- 2 Laureus World Sports Awards.
- The European Golden Shoe.
- And on top of all that, he produced one of the greatest individual seasons in football history in 2019.
Eight years after that headline, Messi even left Europe, giving their golden boy, Mbappé, every opportunity to dominate and finally win the Ballon d’Or. It still didn’t happen.
Then, at 39 years old, Messi returned to the biggest stage at the World Cup in the United States and took the tournament’s Golden Boot ahead of him.
They tried to put limits on a man who has never had any.
‼️Zlatan Ibrahimović: “This is Messi's sixth goal, and he will probably score more than that. We enjoy watching him play. I agree with Henry, the goalkeeper should have done better.”
▪️“But, if it's about Messi, it's fine, mistakes like that can be overlooked, even if we don't like it. He entered the pitch and gave the fans what they wanted, scored a goal, and because of that, the fans got their money's worth for the tickets they paid for, and they can go home now and keep singing his name.”
Fabián Vargas 🗣️: “ I was playing for Almería and we were facing Barça. Before the match, some friends called me asking for my jersey to auction and raise money for victims of the severe floods in Colombia.” 🇨🇴
“So I decided to speak to Messi before the game, explain the situation, and ask if I could have his shirt after the match.” 👕
“But we lost 8–0, I was upset, and I forgot to go get it at full time.” 😔
“Then Almería’s kit manager came into the dressing room and said someone wanted to see me.” 👀
“I went outside and saw Messi standing there with a small bag. He said, ‘Here are some shirts for your fundraiser.’” 🐐
“I hugged him and thanked him. When I opened the bag, I saw not only his shirt, but also shirts from Iniesta, Piqué, Alves, Xavi, and Puyol.” ❤️
“I will never forget his incredible gesture.”
🌎🇦🇷 Lionel Scaloni: “Messi could have played the full game yesterday and added even more to his legend… but he chose to let his teammates get playing time”.
“He doesn’t think about the records people talk about, that says everything about what Argentina means to him.”
🚨🎙️ Pep Guardiola was asked:
“Who is the GOAT between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?”
🗣️ Pep Guardiola smiled:
“Honestly, I don't like this debate anymore because people always want a five-second answer for a question that deserves five hours.”
🗣️ “The moment you say Messi, Ronaldo fans get angry. The moment you say Ronaldo, Messi fans get angry.”
🗣️ “Football is not social media. Football is not about choosing a side in ten seconds.”
🗣️ “To understand greatness, you have to understand football first.”
🗣️ “Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest competitors I have ever seen in any sport.”
🗣️ “His mentality is unbelievable. His discipline is unbelievable. The way he transformed himself from a winger into the greatest goalscorer football has ever seen is something that should be studied.”
🗣️ “You don't score that many goals by accident.”
🗣️ “You don't dominate England, Spain, Italy and international football by accident.”
🗣️ “Cristiano earned every single achievement he has.”
🗣️ “But then there is Messi.”
🗣️ “And this is where the conversation changes.”
🗣️ “When I coached Messi, I realized very quickly that I wasn't looking at a normal football player.”
🗣️ “I was looking at football itself.”
🗣️ “There are players who score goals.”
🗣️ “There are players who create goals.”
🗣️ “There are players who control matches.”
🗣️ “Messi does all three at the same time.”
🗣️ “People see the goals.”
🗣️ “I see the passes nobody else sees.”
🗣️ “I see the spaces nobody else understands.”
🗣️ “I see the decisions that change games before anyone realizes what happened.”
🗣️ “That's why I always laugh when people compare football only through statistics.”
🗣️ “Football is much deeper than statistics.”
🗣️ “If football was only about goals, then maybe the debate would be different.”
🗣️ “But football is also creativity.”
🗣️ “Football is intelligence.”
🗣️ “Football is influence.”
🗣️ “Football is making everyone around you better.”
🗣️ “And for me, nobody has ever done that better than Messi.”
🗣️ “Can Ronaldo be called one of the greatest ever?”
🗣️ “Of course.”
🗣️ “Without any doubt.”
🗣️ “But if you ask me personally, if you ask me honestly, if you ask me as somebody who watched Messi every day…”
🗣️ “Then my answer is Lionel Messi.”
🗣️ “Not because Ronaldo isn't incredible.”
🗣️ “He is.”
🗣️ “Not because Ronaldo didn't change football.”
🗣️ “He did.”
🗣️ “But because Messi changed the way football is understood.”
🗣️ “That is a different level.”
🗣️ “And maybe some Ronaldo fans will criticize me for saying this.”
🗣️ “That's okay.”
🗣️ “I respect Cristiano enormously.”
🗣️ “But I cannot ignore what my eyes have seen.”
🗣️ “For many years I watched Messi do things that should not be possible on a football pitch.”
🗣️ “Things that coaches cannot teach.”
🗣️ “Things that defenders cannot stop.”
🗣️ “Things that only belong to geniuses.”
🗣️ “Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players in football history.”
🗣️ “Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer I have ever seen.”
🐐🇦🇷✨
🗣️ “Sometimes the hardest answer to give is also the simplest one.”