With another month gone, it's time to review Messi's performance in it. After ending the 2020/21 season with Barcelona, Messi has played his first games with Argentina this year starting at the World Cup qualifiers and then the current Copa America tournament.
He played 6 games, scored 4 goals, and gave 2 assists. Other stats include: 17 SoT (27 in total), 30 dribbles, 2 big chances created, 15 key passes, 59/94 duels won, 20 fouls won, 8 tackles, 2 interceptions, 17 recoveries, and 461 touches. Amazing stats.
The goal for next month is to win the Copa America once and for all, after close calls in previous tournaments. There is a realistic chance of reaching the final, but we have to work step by step. Hopefully, the dream finally comes true for Messi and Argentina. That is all for today, so as always I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Continuing with the argument that Messi is a big game player, and with the upcoming Copa America KO matches he'll be playing against Ecuador, it's a good time to look at Messi's stats in all knockout matches in his career.
In total, he has played 202 knockout matches, winning 120, tying 41, and losing 41. He has 131 goals and 65 assists in those games, which is a 0.97 G/A per game ratio, unimaginable for most players considering not only that these are knockout matches but also the sheer amount of these types of games he's played.
Going into more specifics, in 107 games he has the following stats: 488 shots, 207 on target, 563 dribbles, 243 key passes, 63 through-balls, 51 MoTM, and an average rating of 8.35, which further proves the point that Messi not only appears more often than not in these games but that he has a great performance on average. As a side note, he's created 30 big chances in 55 games.
And now I'll go stage for stage:
Round of 64: 1 game (against Gramenet in the 2004/05 Copa del Rey).
Round of 32: 3 games, 3 goals.
Round of 16: 56 games and 51 goals, and 20 assists - In ~29 games: 137 shots, 64 on target, 156 dribbles, 69 key passes, 18 through-balls, 19 MoTM, 8.75 average rating - 10 big chances created in 18 games.
Quarter-finals: 54 games, 25 goals, and 16 assists - In ~30 games: 147 shots, 59 on target, 149 dribbles, 64 key passes, 15 through-balls, 11 MoTM, and an 8.03 average rating - 6 big chances created in 16 games.
Semi-finals: 45 games, 21 goals, and 16 assists - In 28 games: 119 shots, 50 on target, 161 dribbles, 63 key passes, 17 through-balls, 12 MoTM, and 8.31 average rating - 6 big chances created in 11 games.
Finals: 43 games, 31 goals, and 13 assists - In 20 games: 85 shots, 34 on target, 97 dribbles, 47 key passes, 13 through-balls, 9 MoTM, and 8.3 average rating - 8 big chances created in 10 games.
Hopefully, Messi can further strengthen these numbers against Ecuador. That's all for today, so I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Argentina beat Bolivia 4-1 with two goals from Messi, an assist from Messi to Agüero and a goal from Lautaro Martínez. Messi's stats were: 2 goals, 1 assist, 4 SoT (5 in total), 1.3 xG (FBref), 4/5 dribbles, 1 key pass, 2 chances created, 1GCA, 7 SCA, 9 long balls, 1 cross, 59/74 passes, 7/11 duels won, 2 fouls won, 1 tackle, 1 interception, 5 pressures (2 successful), 2 recoveries, and 94 touches.
These were his ratings:
SofaScore: 9.9
Fotmob: 9.4
FootballCritic: 9.4
AiScore: 8.88
Tigo Sports: 10
This was his heatmap:
This was his performance on video:
And this was his performance with an exclusive cam:
This was obviously enough to win him the official MoTM:
Here are some fun facts after the game:
This was Messi's 148th match, breaking the record for most games played for the Albiceleste.
With this game, Messi equaled his record of 3 MoTM awards in a single Copa América, which he did in 2015 and 2016.
This was Messi's 590th goal in open play.
It marked Messi's goal Nº 50 in neutral games.
Messi's 10th brace in 2021.
It was Messi's 1st match at the Pantanal Arena and in the city of Cuiabá.
Messi played his 31st match in Copa América, leaving him as the only 3rd place in the historical table. He is 2 games behind 2nd place and 3 games behind 3rd place (if Messi reaches the final/match for 3rd and 4th place he would equal the record then).
Messi now has 12 goals in the Copa América, leaving him in 12th place in the all-time table along with Angel Romano and Roberto Porta.
Messi scored his 100th penalty.
50th game where Messi has scored 1+ left foot goals in group stage games.
Messi now has 20 wins against teams ranked 85 and lower at the FIFA ranking in group stage games.
10th game where Messi scored against a team ranked 85 and lower at the FIFA ranking in group stage games.
140th game against teams ranked 90 and lower.
10th game where Messi has scored a brace against a team ranked 85 and lower at the FIFA ranking.
50th game where Messi has scored a left-foot goal against a team ranked 110 and lower.
10th game where Messi has scored two left-foot goals against a team ranked 110 and lower.
After the game, Messi was seen alongside Lampe (Bolivia's goalkeeper). This is how it went. Lampe later made a post on social media about the encounter, showing admiration and respect for Messi.
Argentina's rival in the quarter-finals will be Ecuador, 4th place in group B. The game will be on July 3rd at Goiãnia, the first time Messi will play in that city. Hopefully, Argentina get a good result and can advance through to the semi-finals. As always, I hope you liked this entry, and I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Argentina got the win against Paraguay with a goal from 'Papu' Gómez and secured their spot in the quarter-finals. Messi's stats were: 2 SoT (3 in total), 5 dribbles, 1 key pass, 34/42 passes, 12/16 duels won, 5 fouls won, 1 interception, 2 tackles, 2 recoveries, and 73 touches.
These were his ratings:
SofaScore: 7.5
Fotmob: 7.9
FootballCritic: 7.1
AiScore: 6.35
Tigo Sports: 7.9
This was his performance on video:
This was his heatmap:
Some fun facts after the game:
Messi is now 3rd in the table of most games in Copa América history, along with Víctor Ugarte (30). He is 3 behind 2nd place and 4 behind 1st place.
This was Messi's 40th victory with Argentina in neutral stadium matches.
Messi is now tied with Mascherano for the most games played with Argentina (147).
This was his 20th game played against a team ranked 50 or lower in FIFA's ranking in a group stage game.
This was his 10th game played against a team ranked 54 or lower in FIFA's ranking in a group stage game at Copa América.
Continuing with the fact that Messi now has the joint-most games played with the Argentine national team, both Messi and Mascherano made posts about it.
As previously mentioned, thanks to this win Argentina qualified through to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Their rival is still unknown since the positions of both groups are not yet known, with a round to go in each group. Argentina's next rival will be Bolivia, who's last in the group with no points won yet in three games. Hopefully, Argentina get the win and consolidate their 1st place position in the group. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Argentina beat Uruguay 1-0 after Messi made a cross to Rodríguez and scored. It's their first victory since the return of international football this year (4 consecutive games tied). It was also Argentina's 1000th game in their history. Messi's stats were: 1 assist, 1 SoT (2 in total), 4 key passes, 9 dribbles, 1 cross, 40/47 passes, 15/24 duels won, 5 fouls won, 1 tackle, 2 recoveries, 11 pressures (4 successful), and 78 touches. This won him the official MoTM, his 2nd in the tournament.
This was his heatmap:
This was his performance on video:
And this was his exclusive cam (also detailing his performance):
Here are some fun facts after the game:
Messi is now in sole 4th place in the Copa America's most games played table, with 29. He is 1 game behind 3rd place, 4 behind 2nd place, and 5 behind 1st place.
Messi gave his 10th assist this year.
Messi got his 40th goal contribution this year.
With today's assist, Messi has 30 assists in neutral game matches.
Another thing to note about the game were Messi's runs and Messi's ball control, which was phenomenal all throughout the match, even in the last minutes of the game, gaining precious time.
After the game, Messi posted on his Instagram: "Let's go !!! It was important to win today. This will give us peace of mind for what is to come, which will continue to be tough 💪💪🇦🇷🇦🇷"
Argentina is now placed 1st in the group alongside Chile (though Paraguay has 1 point less with 1 fewer game). Argentina's next opponent will be Paraguay on the 21st, so hopefully Argentina can get a decisive victory to secure a spot for the KO stage. But until then, I hope you liked this entry, and I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Argentina tied 1-1 to Chile at the Olímpico Nilton Santos stadium, the first time Messi has played there. Messi opened the score with a fantastic free-kick to the top left corner, but Vargas equalized after a rebound from a penalty. Messi's stats were: 1 goal, 3 SoT (7 in total), 3 dribbles, 4 key passes, 3 crosses, 2 long balls, 6 SCA, 29/36 passes, 6/12 duels won, 2 fouls won, 1 tackle, 5 recoveries, 10 pressures (1 successful) and 66 touches. Winning him the official MoTM of the game.
His ratings were:
SofaScore: 8.4
Fotmob: 8.5
FootballCritic: 8.1
Infogol: 10
Tigo Sports: 9.5
This was his heat map:
This was his performance on video:
Here are some fun facts after the game:
With this goal, he has become the top scorer of free kicks in the national team, with 7 goals, surpassing Riquelme who had 6.
Messi has surpassed Ronaldo in free-kick goals (57).
Messi has surpassed Batistuta in the most official goals with the national team (39).
Messi is now in 4th place for most games played in the Copa America (28), tied with Máximo Mosquera.
Messi has reached 10 goals in the Copa América, leaving him in 15th place (tied with 9 more).
Messi has played his 6th Copa América, tying Tesoriere's record with 6 as well.
Messi played his first game and scored his 1st goal at the Olímpico Nilton Santos stadium.
Messi received his 10th official MoTM award for the Copa América (awarded since 2011).
Messi has scored his 30th goal with Argentina in neutral games.
Messi has reached 30 goals this year.
Argentina's next game will be against Uruguay, a tough challenge for the albiceleste. Messi will also face Suárez once again. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, the Argentine national team landed on Brazil to play the Copa América. Specifically, they landed on Rio de Janeiro, and the team is now at the Hilton Barra hotel. After landing, Messi had a virtual press conference at 8 PM (Argentina time). The complete press conference can be seen here: Habló Messi, antes del debut de la Selección Argentina en la Copa América: "Es el momento de dar el golpe". Below is the English translation of what he said.
"We are worried about catching Covid-19. We try to take care of ourselves and keep doing everything they tell us, but it's not easy because then these things happen. We are playing against the other teams where there is also a risk of contagion. We will do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen, but it doesn't always depend on us and it can happen".
"We came at a good moment, we had not been together for a long time and although it was difficult at the beginning, we played two good games. We were not able to get the victory but we kept growing. We are happy with the performance of the two matches but we have to win to keep growing".
"At no time did the national team depend on me. We always sought to build a strong group to achieve our goals. Little by little we became stronger as a team, we have been working for a long time with many of the same players and the same idea. We have already played in a Copa América and many of them already have the experience, we are still on the right path and we will try to achieve our goal".
"(About the upcoming game against Chile) We need an important victory. We have been doing things well, we have been growing but we need to win. Especially at the beginning of the Copa América, where it is important to start with three points because it gives you peace of mind for what is to come. We know it is going to be very difficult, that we are playing again against Chile, that we know each other very well. We know what a tough opponent we are going to face, but hopefully we can do it because it will be important for the whole group and it will give us peace of mind to start with the three points and then go on".
"Everything I get to play with the national team is always special, be it friendlies, Copa America or a World Cup. I never imagined I would play so many games with the national team. I try to live day by day, be present and give my best."
"(About De Paul) He has become very important since Scaloni's arrival, he is a very important player because of what he gives in the midfield, both with and without the ball. We always try to look for him, to be close to him because of my position, because of the way I play, because of the sector where I always move and he is the closest to me. Little by little we got to know each other and I feel very good playing with him".
"We already know what our idea is. Most of the team has been playing together for a long time now, although new players have arrived and are being incorporated, the idea and the way of playing of the National Team is quite clear and we already have it. It's time to make a big impact and this Cup could be the chance. We are ready. It is going to be a special Cup because of everything that is happening in the world, and soccer is not exempt, but we are ready to compete"
"I am always available to be with the national team and give my best. My biggest dream is to win a title with the national team. I was very close many times and unfortunately it didn't happen. I will try to keep looking for it until I can, until it happens, until the coach says that I can be there and contribute to the group and the team, I will always be there and fight for that dream. I was lucky enough to win everything at club and individual level, but it would be great to achieve something with the national team as well".
"We were left with a bitter taste because of the way the match with Colombia ended. I think that after the first half we played we deserved to take the three points, we had the chance to score the third on several occasions and to end up being tied in the last minute, it leaves you with an ugly feeling. We left a good image, although we have to correct many things to try to really fight because it is clear that this is not enough for us and we are willing and ready to keep growing and try to win tomorrow's match."
As a fun fact, Agüero sent a message in the live stream of Messi's press conference, saying "Greetings to all cracks! Except to the bobbins who insult🤪"
Today, Argentina will play against Chile for their debut at the Copa América. Messi will be playing his 6th Copa América, a record for Argentina alongside Tesoriere. That is all for today, I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
With the Copa América a few days away, it's time to look at Messi's stats in the competition.
He has scored 9 goals and given 12 assists (or 14 counting non-Opta) in 27 games, which equals 21 (or 23) G/A in total, a pretty good amount. As a fun fact, he's made both a goal hat-trick and an assists hat-trick in this competition.
With stats since the 2015 Copa América, he's made 61 shots (24 on target), 83 dribbles, 38 key passes, won 6 MoTM (according to WhoScored/SofaScore) and has an average rating of 8.05, which is pretty good.
And finally, in terms of awards, he's won the 2015 Copa América Golden Ball, the 2007 Best Young Player Award, 9 official MoTM awards since 2011, and he's been in three different ToTT.
As we can see, Messi has some pretty good stats in this competition, and hopefully he can expand them further in this Copa América. That is all for today, so I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Argentine tied 2-2 with Colombia in Barranquilla. What seemed like an easy game at first with goals from Romero and Paredes turned into a nightmare as Muriel got a goal back via penalty and Borja scored the equalizer in the last minute. Messi's stats were: 3 SoT, 1 woodwork (4 shots in total), 3/5 dribbles, 1 big chance created, 3 key passes, 6/14 duels won, 1 foul won, 2 tackles, 6 recoveries, 2 long balls, 1 cross, 36/37 passes, and 63 touches, which got him a 7.9 rating according to SofaScore.
This was his heatmap:
This was his performance on video:
Argentina's still placed 2nd in the qualifiers with 12 points, 5 points ahead of Paraguay in 6th place. Now, Argentina's next challenge will be the Copa América, which, if played, will start for Argentina on June 14th at 6 PM (Argentina time).
I will do an entry detailing Messi's stats in the Copa América and where he stands in some statistics, so look forward to it. As always, I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
After May ended, and the club season as well, it's time to collect all of Messi's stats in the last month. He has shown once again why many consider him one of, if not the best player in the world as of today, even when he's almost 34 years old.
He played 4 games in the last month of his club season, and his stats were the following: 4 goals, 1 pre-assist, 4 big chances created, 1 through-ball, 9 key passes, 8 SoT (22 in total), 50 duels won out of 69, 16 fouls won, 43 pressures (17 successful), 213 passes, 374 touches, 2 MoTM according to WhoScored and having an average match rating of 8.79 (according to WhoScored once again).
With his team, he ended up 3rd in La Liga with 79 points, which is disappointing but understandable considering the amount of mistakes that were made in numerous games (losing important points).
These were his highlights of the month on video:
The objective for June will be to focus on the national team, specifically in the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers and the Copa América. That is all for today, so as always I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Having detailed Messi's performances against teams from the top 5 leagues, it's now time to look at Messi's performances against teams from certain continents/subcontinents, which is a good time considering Messi will return to the national team in a few days.
Overall, Messi has the following stats against South American countries: 79 games, 29 goals and 19 assists (22 counting non-Opta), which means that Messi has 48 (or 51) G/A, an average of 0.61 (0.65) per game, which is not bad.
Venezuela: 9 games, 4 goals, 6 assists. With U-20: In U-20: 2 games, 1 goal, 1 assist.
With this, he became the first Argentine player to score against all other Conmebol nations, and the 4th player ever to do it, which is quite an impressive achievement.
Clearly, despite the physicality that South American countries play with, Messi still performs well against them. Now with the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers and the Copa America, Messi will hopefully further increase these numbers. That is all for today, so I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Recent news have confirmed that Messi won't play against Eibar. Instead, he'll instead take some early vacations before going to the national team to play the qualifiers. This means that Messi's season in Barcelona is over.
Argentina's next game will be against Chile on June 3rd, around 2 weeks time from now. Messi's last game with the national team was back in October of 2020 since the qualifiers for March were canceled, so Messi will finally be back to play for the albiceleste. The Copa América isn't far away from now either.
Soon, I will do an entry detailing Messi's performance in the 2020/21 season. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
With no more content regarding goals wrongfully canceled against Messi, I'll expand on this series including cards wrongfully given, penalties not given, penalties that should have been repeated or aggressions against Messi not sanctioned with a red card. So without further ado, let's look at these decisions.
First off is his red card against Chile in the 2019 Copa América 3rd place playoff spot. In his confrontation with Medel he did nothing wrong, just stood his ground as Medel bumped his chest into him, but the referee still gave him the red card alongside Medel.
Next up is a clear aggression from Pulido to Messi that could have easily been sanctioned with a red card, when Barça faced Huesca at home this season. The referee, however, didn't even signal a foul.
Once again, Medel and Messi meet up in this entry, this time for the 2015 Copa América final. There, Medel kicked Messi in the stomach with no intention of going to the ball, which should have been a red card.
Going forward to 2017, Messi faced Uruguay for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Giménez made a tough tackle at Messi which should have been a red card, but the referee only gave a yellow card.
And last but not least, Messi's penalty miss against PSG should have been retaken due to an invasion from a PSG player. He later benefitted from it too, another reason why it should have been retaken.
That's the end of part 5. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
It's not often that we see Messi swapping shirts with other players, but it's clear that a lot of people would want a shirt from him so it does happen from time to time.
The first recorded instance was in June 24th, 2006, against Mexico in the 2006 World Cup R16. He swapped shirts with Rafael Márquez (team-mate of his in Barcelona at the time).
The next instance was in February 20th 2008, in the UCL R16 first leg against Celtic. Here, he swapped shirts with Celtic's captain Stephen Mcmanus after the final whistle, and both handshaked afterward.
In 2012, after the first leg 3-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen away in the 2011/12 UCL R16, Messi was seen swapping shirts with Czech defender Michal Kadlec, who had previously fought with his team-mate Friedrich over who would get the shirt. Coincidentally, both featured a year later on the Czech version of FIFA 14's cover.
He once again swapped shirts only 2 rounds later in the same UCL, when he swapped shirts with John Terry after the 2011/12 UCL semi-final first leg against Chelsea. He had previously faced the English defender multiple times in the Champions League.
Later on in the same year, he swapped shirts with his idol Pablo Aimar, after beating Benfica 2-0 with 2 assists from him.
In the same UCL season, after the end of the second leg between Barcelona and PSG, Messi and his compatriot Lavezzi exchanged shirts.
In September 2013, after winning 4-0 against Rayo Vallecano, he swapped shirts with Argentine striker Joaquín Larrivey.
In January 2014, he swapped shirts with Arda Turan after Barcelona and Atlético Madrid tied 0-0 in La Liga. He later joined Barcelona 1 ½ years later.
Next up is Argentina against Jamaica in the 2015 Copa América, which ended 1-0 for Argentina. At the end of the game, he swapped shirts with Jobi McAnuff, Jamaica's Nº 10.
Not long after, in August of that same year, he swapped shirts with Roma legend Totti to auction for Roma Cares & Fundación Barça.
The same year, in November, and involving Roma again, Messi exchanged shirts with Lucas Digne, defender of the Italian team.
In April 2017, after Barcelona got kicked out of the UCL on a 3-0 aggregate against Juventus, Chiellini and Bonucci fought over who would get Messi's jersey, which Bonucci ultimately won.
Then, in August, he swapped shirts with Alan Ruschel, one of the few survivors of Chapecoense's plane crash back in November 2016.
After the first-leg draw between Barcelona and Chelsea in the UCL R16, Messi and ex-team-mate Fabregas swapped shirts with eachother.
After the 2018 World Cup clash between Iceland and Argentina, Messi swapped shirts with Birkir Bjarnason.
In January 2019, after winning 2-1 against Getafe with a goal from Messi, he exchanged shirts with Getafe's goalkeeper Jaime Mata.
In March 2019, despite the known rivalry between Barcelona and Espanyol, young left-back Adria Pedrosa asked for Messi's shirt after the end of the game (which was won 2-0 thanks to Messi's brace). It shows that even fierce rivals admit his greatness.
In the Copa América of the same year, he exchanged shirts with Junior Moreno after Argentina won 2-0 against Venezuela.
In October, after beating Inter Milan 2-1 with an assist from him, he swapped shirts with his compatriot Lautaro Martínez.
In the same UCL season, in the first leg R16 game against Napoli, he swapped shirts with Lorenzo Insigne.
In October of the same year, he swapped shirts with Carlos Grueso from Ecuador, after Argentina won 1-0 with a goal from Messi.
Then, in December, he exchanged shirts with Italian legend Buffon after Barcelona lost 3-0 to Juventus.
In February of 2021, after beating Elche 3-0 with 2 goals from him, he exchanged shirts with Elche's goalkeeper, Edgar Badia, in a heartwarming scene.
And finally, the last one I found was when he swapped shirts with his countryman Icardi after PSG kicked Barça out of the UCL.
This has been my longest entry yet, and I worked very hard to find all of these, so I hoped you liked it and I'll see you in the next blog.
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