Messi's FIFA evolution

The FIFA games are the most popular series of football video games alongside PES, so today we'll take a dive and see how Messi has evolved all the way back since FIFA 06 to the current FIFA 21.

His first appearance was, as already mentioned, in FIFA 06. He had a rating of 78 and for some reason they put his birthday as February 14th instead of June 24th.

In FIFA 07, he had a big rating boost and had a massive potential of 94.

In FIFA 08, he received a small rating boost and got a still massive potential of 93.

FIFA 09 came and Messi finally got into the 90 rating club, where he never came back from. He also had a potential of 95.

FIFA 10 was when cards were first introduced. He once again had a rating of 90 and a potential of 95, but he also had a 91 rating card as well as two in-form cards (94 and 95 rated).

FIFA 11 followed the trend of giving him a 90 rating with a potential of 95, and his FIFA card was also 90 rated and received 4 in-forms (92, 93, 95 and 96 rated).

In FIFA 12, he received a big boost from 90 to 94 rated and had a potential of 96. FIFA cards got more creative from this point as well, so he received 4 in-form cards, 1 MoTM card, a ToTS, and ToTY card.

FIFA 13 gave him the same rating but increased his potential to 97, as well as 2 in-form cards, 1 ToTS card, 1 ToTY card and a special card with a 91 rating due to his 91 goals in 2012.

FIFA 14 gave Messi the same rating and potential, as well as 2 in-form cards, a ToTS and ToTY card and 3 special WC cards.

FIFA 15 lowered his rating to 93 and his potential to 95, but he still received numerous cards and was still the highest-rated player in the game.

FIFA 16 put Mess with a rating of 94 and a potential of 95, once again the highest rating in the game. They also gave him the same types of cards as the last games.

In FIFA 17, Messi no longer had a potential higher than his rating, keeping both at 93. He also received the same cards as always.

FIFA 18 kept him at 93 rating and gave him the same cards he usually gets + a World Cup card like in FIFA 14

FIFA 19 put him with 94 rating once again and gave him the same cards as ever too.

In FIFA 20 they kept him at 94 rating and got even more creative with the cards, which meant more different cards for Messi as well.

Finally, in the newest release FIFA 21 he is still the highest-rated player in the game although 1 point lower than last year.

I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next one!

The "False 9" Messi

May 1st, 2009, the day before El Clásico. Pep Guardiola explained to Messi something that would later prove to revolutionize football. He explained to him the false 9 position and wanted him to play it against Real Madrid. The rest, as they say, is history. Today's topic will be about that, so without further ado, let's get into it.

The day after that meet-up with Pep, Messi dropped a masterclass against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, assisting the first goal, scoring the third and fifth goals, and pre-assisting the sixth goal. His new position in the game definitely made an impact on the pitch as Barcelona thrashed Real 6-2 on their own ground.

He won the Ballon d'Or that same year, and the false 9 position seemed to accustom him greatly since he was the best player in the 2009/10 season as well, scoring 47 goals (winning the Golden Boot as well) and giving 11 assists in 53 games with Barcelona, and winning yet another Ballon d'Or later on. In the 2010/11 season, he was once again the best player in the world, with astounding performances both in La Liga and the Champions League, which meant yet another Ballon d'Or rolling in for him, scoring 53 goals and giving 23 assists in 55 games with Barcelona.

In the 2011/12 season, we would see perhaps the best version of Messi, racking up to 73 goals (winning the Golden Boot once again) and 29 assists for a total of 102 goals generated in the season with Barcelona. This won him the Ballon d'Or, obviously. In the 2012/13 season, he was in his most clinical form ever, but injuries did cause some problems for him. Nevertheless, he got 60 goals (winning yet another Golden Boot) and 15 assists in 50 games. In his final season as a false 9, the 2013/14 season, he got 41 goals and 14 assists in 46 games. After that, MSN was consolidated and Suárez moved into the central position, pushing Messi to be a right-winger once again like he was under Rijkaard. Although he did play from time to time as a false 9, using Suárez as a reference point, he was mainly a right-winger or an attacking midfielder from that point on.

Overall, his role as a false 9 was to cause a lot of tactical problems to the opposing team, leaving them in a no-win situation. If he was pressed by a defensive midfielder, it would free up space for Xavi and Iniesta to put the ball forward. If a centreback pressed him, then that would leave a flank open to exploit, and if he wasn't pressed, then he could just run havoc with his skillset.

As we can see, Messi's performance while being a false 9 was spectacular for the most part, and due to his tactical importance, goals and assists don't do justice to just how vital he was for Barcelona in that period.

Messi's performance in the 2018 World Cup

Despite Argentina getting kicked out in the R16 in this tournament, Messi's performance was phenomenal as always. That's the topic of today's entry, so without further ado, let's look at his performance.

In the first game against Iceland, although he missed a penalty (should have been repeated for area invasion) he was still the best player in the game, with 8 dribbles, 3 key passes, 13 ground duels won, etc. In the second game, although Argentina suffered a hard loss he was still Argentina's best player, and amongst the best in the game overall. In the final game against Nigeria, he scored an amazing goal (nominated for the Puskás Award), hit the post with his free kick, and then Rojo scored the winner. Overall, he was Argentina's best player in the group stage.

Against France in the Round of 16, he first took the corner that lead to a throw-in that lead to Argentina's first goal of the game. He later assisted Argentina's other two goals, but it wasn't enough, and France kicked Argentina out of the World Cup. They would later win the tournament as well.

In the tournament overall, Messi deserved a spot in the TOTT (if Ronaldo deserved it so did Messi). This is probably one of his most underrated tournaments as well, but it was tragically cut short. His stats in the tournament were: 1 goal, 2 assists, 1 (or 2) MoTM, 6 SOT, 1 woodwork, 9 shots overall, 23 dribbles, 10 chances created, 25 SCA, 2 GCA, 16 fouls won, 44 ground duels won, 16 ball recoveries, 5 tackles, 1 interception, 66 pressures (22 succesful), 168 passes (80 forward), and 323 touches. I hope this information was interesting to you, and I'll see you in the next entry.

Barcelona advance to the Copa del Rey quarter-finals

After a rough start where they could have easily made a lead, Rayo Vallecano was the first to score in the second half. Fortunately, Barcelona had the Messi factor, and he scored Barcelona's equalizer, then not long after De Jong made the comeback, with a pre-assist from Messi. This was his 650th goal for Barcelona, quite a milestone. Messi's stats were: 1 goal, 1 pre-assist, 2 SOT, 2 shots to the woodwork (4 in total), 9 dribbles, 2 key passes, 14 ground duels won, 5 fouls received, 33 passes, and 82 touches, which equated to an undisputed MoTM performance from him. Here is a comp of him in the game:

With a Messi hungry for more goals, hopefully 2021 becomes the year of Messi and goes back to his usual form (and even then, 2020 wasn't even that bad of a year, easily top 2 behind Lewandowski).

Going through to the quarter-finals, Barça now appears as a clear candidate for the trophy, but more is yet to come, and we can't waste chances, but to be fair, Barça hit the woodwork 4 times, extremely unlucky, but still, finishing must be on point. They can't risk dropping points in La Liga either, so Koeman will have to make some choices about that. Until then, see you on the next blog!

Messi's heat map

With over 700 goals and over 300 assists, making up for over 1000 goals generated in his career, some would think that Messi's heat map is pretty advanced and close to the box, but in fact he's generally been a bit far from the box actually.

As we can see in this video, Messi's heat map in his La Liga career has evolved over the years, changing from the wings to a more central role, but still away from the box most of the time.

This is yet another aspect that makes him so great. Despite barely playing as a striker (winger, attacking midfielder, false 9, etc.), he still puts up amazing numbers, but it's still another argument for why Messi can't be reduced to just statistics since he's much, much more than that.

Messi's "weak" foot

Messi tends to move and shoot the ball with his left foot, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have a good right foot. That's what today's entry is about, so without further ado, let's look at Messi's "weak" foot.

He has scored a total of 91 goals with his right foot, which makes up 12.62% of his goals. Since the 2009/10 season, Messi has had an amazing 26.57% accuracy in his right-footed shots. And since the 2014/15 league season, he has outscored his xG by 4, as well as giving over 320 key passes and making 61 assists with his "weak" foot in that same period.

He's scored 1 right foot hat-trick and 6 right foot braces, and some memorable moments like his first World Cup goal, his chip against Bayern Munich in the 2014/15 UCL season, his goal against Real Madrid in the 2010/11 UCL where he dribbled past 4 players, his incredible goal against Nigeria in the 2018 World Cup which was nominated for the Puskás Award, and others.

This great video from Messi Magic™ shows how good Messi really is with his right foot.

Keeping consistency in the league

Barcelona earned another 3 points yesterday thanks to De Jong and, more importantly, Puig. This game also ended Messi's suspension and he'll be able to play against Rayo Vallecano in the Copa del Rey Round of 16.

An incredibly dominating Barcelona won yet another game against relegation side Elche, and they continue their unbeaten streak dating back to their win against Levante over a month ago. Unfortunately, they're still third behind Real Madrid, who also has a long-standing unbeaten streak dating back to their win against Sevilla at the beginning of December, but they can still take their place if they remain consistent.

Aside from the 2 big chances missed, the most important aspect was Puig's goal with very little playtime (subbed in at the 87th minute and scored in the 89th). This is his first goal with the senior team, and hopefully, Koeman can realize his potential before it's too late.

The master of pre-assists

Pre-assists are a very underrated stat. Opta has them in mind, calling them "second assists" instead. This term was coined by Amartey Amar back in 2008 to explain an aspect from Hleb. It has gained more and more relevance over the years, and now Messi has been able to master it, part of his godly playmaking skills.

This comp from @tiniademaj10 is great for showing Messi's pre-assists, another testament to how good he is at playmaking overall.

It doesn't matter at what stat you look, there's a very high chance that Messi leads in it. Pre-assists, as important as they are, are just one of the many things that Messi has mastered in the game of football.

Messi against Argentinian teams

Since he left Newell's Old Boys for Barcelona, Messi obviously hasn't had the chance to play against teams from Argentina often. However, he has in fact played against some of them, which this entry will look in deep. Without further ado, let's get into it.

His first encounter would have been against Boca Juniors in the 2008 Joan Gamper, but he was playing in the Olympics at that time so he wasn't in the squad.

His first real encounter with an Argentinian team was against Estudiantes de La Plata in the 2009 Club World Cup final. Estudiantes had won the Libertadores that year so they earned a spot in the tournament. Boselli opened up the score with a header, and nearly won them the final, but Pedro equalized the game near the end with another header. In extra-time, Messi made a well-remembered goal with his chest to win the Club World Cup, which would be Barça's complete Sextuple. He also won the Golden Ball in the final and in the tournament overall, as well as the Silver Boot.

Later in 2015, this time they faced River Plate in the Club World Cup final, a team which Messi had made some practices on, but never went anywhere. He scored the first of Barcelona's three goals in the game, the two after coming from Suárez. This time, Messi won the Silver Ball in the final and in the tournament.

The last time he played against a team from Argentina was against Boca Juniors in the 2018 Joan Gamper. He assisted the first goal for Malcolm, scored the second goal with a nice chip, and Rafinha ended the job, making it 3-0 for Barça. Messi was the MVP of the final for his great performance.

Even though those teams are from his own country, Messi performs as always against them. I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next one.

Barça advance to the Copa del Rey Round of 16

Barça advanced to the Round of 16 after beating third-tier team Cornellà on extra-time. Messi didn't play due to his red card against Bilbao in the Supercopa final that won't see him play in the next game as well. What seemed like an easy game turned into a nightmare as they missed 2 penalties, which forced extra-time, and then Dembelé's and Braitwathe's goals saw them go through.

It was a very deserved victory, and the Man of The Match this game goes easily to Araújo, the Uruguayan defender, winning almost all of his duels, winning a penalty (later missed), as well as some tackles and clearances to complicate Cornellà's attack.

The clinical attribute was needed more than ever in this game, as Barcelona missed 6(!) big chances, though they did get unlucky with a shot to the post. The draw for the Round of 16 will be made today, with many possible opponents.

Messi's performance in the 2014 World Cup

What Messi did in the 2014 World Cup was one of the greatest performances in its history, deservedly winning the Golden Ball award for the tournament. Unfortunately, some people still think that Messi robbed the award, so let's take a look at what Messi did that earned him that Golden Ball.

In his debut against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he created Kolasinac's own goal thanks to his cross, which would have otherwise been an assist from Messi if Rojo converted, and later made it 2 with an amazing goal, winning the game 2-1. Against an Iran side that parked the bus, he created a big chance for Garay in the first half, which unfortunately wasn't converted, but he managed to score the winner in the dying minutes of the game. In the last game against Nigeria, he scored early on but Musa quickly equalized the match. He created a big chance for Higuaín, but he didn't score. Before the end of the first half, Messi scored a great free kick to give Argentina the lead once more. Once again, Musa equalized in the second half, but then came Rojo's goal to win the game. This goal came from a free kick from Messi which was rejected, Di María sent to a corner, and Garay then assisted Rojo. Once again, Messi created a big chance for Higuaín which he once again missed. He was WhoScored's MoTM in all 3 games.

Then came the knockouts, where Messi first assisted a goal to Di María against Switzerland in the Round of 16 to win Argentina the game. He also won WhoScored's MoTM in this game, In the quarter-finals, Higuaín's goal came from an attack started by Messi. In the semi-finals, Messi scored in the shootout, made 10 dribbles, and won WhoScored's MoTM easily as well. The final was the most unfortunate part. Messi made 7 dribbles and 2 key passes, but with a goal to Higuaín canceled, another one-on-one from Pipa this time failed, a penalty for Argentina not given and finally, another 1v1 from Palacio missed and a goal from Götze, Germany won the World Cup. As unfortunate as it was, it was still a good performance from him, getting an 8/10 from The Guardian, and he was easily the best player of the tournament.

His stats were the following: 4 goals, 1 assist, 4 big chances created, 46 dribbles, 23 key passes, 11 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 232 passes. Certainly World Cup Golden Ball material if you ask me, especially when you see how Messi did it.

Many injuries, but none of them stopped him...

One of the things that isn't talked about enough is how Messi came back from severe injuries that left him sidelined for months. While some players would have had a notable decrease in quality after some of those injuries, Messi only seemed to get stronger every time. So let's take a look at some of those injuries and how Messi performed afterward.

His first major injury happened in February 2001, playing for the Infantil B, where he fractured his fibula in a quick play. His dad asked him if he wanted to go back, but he was firm in triumphing in Barcelona. The following season, 2001/02, he scored 21 goals in 14 games with the Infantil A, and he was so good he was promoted that same season to Cadete B, but he wasn't able to play any official games due to burocratic problems, but he did play amazingly with the Cadete A next season, bagging 37 goals in 30 games without losing a single game in the season.

His second major injury was in the 2005/06 season, where he got a torn muscle bundle against Chelsea in the away game for the UCL Round of 16. He was out for 74 days, making him lose out on the rest of the season. Not long after the injury, Messi played in the 2006 World Cup and established himself as one of the best youngsters not only in the tournament, but in the world as well.

The next one happened in the 2006/07 season. This one left him out for a record 87 days and a total of 18 games out according to Transfermakt. Not long after recovering, he had a memorable hat-trick against Real Madrid and ended up being Barcelona's most valuable player that season.

In the 2007/08 season, Messi suffered from two bad injuries in the span of a few months. The first one was a hamstring injury that left him out for a month, including 6 games. Before he could properly recover, he got injured again, this time from a torn muscle bundle, which sidelined him for more than a month and 8 games in total. What followed was a great performance in the 2008 Olympics and then the 2008/09 season, the beginning of the Guardiola era, which we all know how it went for Messi.

He wouldn't have problems with injuries until 2013. In that year, he spent 1/3rd of the year injured. But even then, Messi was very close to winning the Ballon d'Or, in a year where he scored 45 goals and made 16 assists, making a total of 61 G/A, being MoTM in almost half of his games and making 3.7 dribbles per game.

In the 2015/16 season, once again he had some injuries in that period, being sidelined for a total of 62 days, or 12 games. Even then, Messi was the best player in La Liga by some distance and also the best player in the Champions League until Barcelona got kicked out.

Since then, Messi hasn't really had any significant injury problems, but when you look at his career, and how many injuries could have severely affected him, it makes him all the more impressive.

Messi before signing for Barcelona

In Barcelona, Messi achieved everything for what he is known for today (aside from his national team of course). But we also know that Messi once played for Newell's Old Boys, a team from his own province which he was a fan of. Today's blog will be dedicated to his time at Newell's Old Boys, looking at stats and other things as well.

Between 1992 and 1993, Messi played for a team called Abanderado Grandoli FC. Even when he was only 5 to 6 years old, his talent was easily recognizable. People said that Grandoli had "The Next Maradona", and even people not connected to the club watched Grandoli's games to see Messi play.

After leaving Grandoli for Newell's Old Boys in 1994, his debut was against Pablo VI on April 9th, 1994. Newell's won that game 6-0 with 4 goals coming from Messi, showing more of his incredible potential. That year, he would score 40 goals in only 29 games.

In 1995, he decreased to 36 goals in 30 games, but a fantastic thing happened as, although he got locked in a bathroom due to a damaged lock, he ended up breaking the glass and got to the pitch when his team was losing 1-0. He later scored a hat-trick and gave his team the victory and a bicycle as well, which was the prize for the winner. As a side note, he played and won in a tournament this year with Central Córdoba. In the same year, he scored an amazing volley goal which included a sombrero on an opponent beforehand,

In 1996, he bagged 36 goals in 27 games. He also met Antonela in this year, which would later evolve into a romantic relationship.

In 1997, he scored 40 goals in 36 games. He also made his international debut in Peru, on a tournament called "Copa de la Amistad", which he won and made a great performance in the final.

In the year 1998, he got a low 27 goals in 25 games. There is not much to detail in this year unfortunately.

Finally, in 1999 he got an all-time high of 55 goals in only 29 games, nearly two goals per game. One of his recorded goals that year was one where he dribbled past a player with the touch of his heel and later shoots to the far post for a great goal. There was also his performance against El Torito, a game where he won 4-3 with a goal from himself. This would be his last year at Newell's Old Boys before he moved to Barcelona.

This great video compiles Messi's highlights before signing for Barcelona. As we can see, he was destined to be the greatest from the very start.