Messi’s problem re: this particular award is that he makes most of his goals look easy and does them over and over again. They don’t feel like they came out of nowhere, which is a hallmark of the Puskas. Personally, his Bilbao goal was definitely better than the 2015 winner. I’d put the Madrid 2011 goal up there too.

But, I’ll also say that the winners deserved their awards too. The goals that won were ridiculous. 🤷‍♂️

Barcelona players have gone on record repeatedly that Messi is an excellent defender… and in games, especially when he was younger, he used to backtrack all the time to win balls.

That’s just stupid. 😂

Ronaldo’s reaction is exactly what I would have expected. Yes, Messi deserved it.

What team do you root for? Just wondering what your incentive is for this nonsensical rant.

Referees aren’t the most influential “player” on the pitch, except in super extreme cases (and whatever you’re upset about isn’t one of them). VAR hasn’t been applied perfectly, but it’s clearly a better solution to have instant replay than to just let mistakes happen on the field with no recourse. You’re somehow arguing that offsides and handballs should be applied as the referee initially sees it, so completely subjectively with no review, and then also saying you want more objectivity. I mean, which do you want? Referees making mistakes in the fast paced play or referees being able to check themselves after to make sure they got it right? Without even a sense of irony, you’re arguing that referees should be given more power and less power… presumably because your team had an offside or handball call in the most recent not go your way.

I mean… maybe everyone could just play without referees and everyone has to call fouls on the honor. That actually sounds like what you want. Which are the rankings of a ten year old.

Objectively, it was really impressive and he was still the best player in the world. That’s literally all there is to it.

Incredible save.

Gotta be happy for him. He finally made another free kick.