Lionel Messi hit the fabled 90-rating mark in FIFA 09 and has never looked back since. For the most part his numbers have only moved in one direction, with a peak in gaming circles reached when earning 94-rated base cards in the FIFA editions of 12, 13, 14, 16, 19 and 20.
A slight dip has been taken in since then, with two points trimmed in the present to leave him on 91, but there is every reason to believe that another boost could be in the offing despite supposedly entering the twilight of a quite remarkable career.
Magical
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Lionel Messi plays his 1,000th game today.<br><br>What a career. <a href=”https://t.co/FEMPjGiK0q”>pic.twitter.com/FEMPjGiK0q</a></p>— B/R Football (@brfootball) <a href=”https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1599098906532610056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Messi was at his magical best during the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, while a domestic spark has been rekindled at Paris Saint-Germain. The Ligue 1 giants are a shoo-in for title glory on home soil, while any bet on Champions League outright markets brings a star-studded outfit in at 8/1. Champions League betting tips will forever side with teams that boast such strength in depth, especially those that have South American superstars pulling the strings.
PSG are rightly proud to have a seven-time Ballon d’Or winner on their books, while anybody fortunate enough to pack an all-time great in FIFA Ultimate Team will feel as though virtual stars have aligned for them.
Messi is the most prized of assets whether the action is real or simulated, with his statistics mightily impressive whatever way you look at them. His dribbling ability remains the best in the business, while any sight of goal is likely to result in a net being rippled.
There has, however, always been one area of his game that is overlooked in order for his match-altering ability to truly flourish. When you are that good going forward, with defenders on strings most of the time, why would you concern yourself with defensive duty?
That is a mindset Messi has unashamedly adopted, and he is not going to change now. At Qatar 2022, the odd foray towards the edge of his own penalty area was made, but bursts of pace tend to make way for casual walking once the ball crosses the halfway line in a direction that he is not looking to head.
Dutch legend Marco van Basten has said: “Messi totally doesn’t defend with the team, you pretty much play 11 vs 10.” There is little argument to be found there, although Thierry Henry – who was once a Barcelona team-mate of the Argentine icon – has pointed out: “It’s pretty simple for me: just enjoy the guy while he’s there and stop complaining about stuff that he doesn’t do.”
Valid
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”it” dir=”ltr”>Lionel Messi's FIFA evolution 👑<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIFA22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#FIFA22</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIFARatings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#FIFARatings</a> <a href=”https://t.co/FtW0I38Tg1″>pic.twitter.com/FtW0I38Tg1</a></p>— GOAL (@goal) <a href=”https://twitter.com/goal/status/1437494933632475136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 13, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Another valid point, with nobody having ever included Messi within their ranks to deliver crunching tackles. He is there to provide an attacking spark, to dance his way past outstretched legs, pick passes that nobody else sees and register an unimaginable amount of goals.
His numbers for club and country down the years reflect as much, as do his impressive figures on FIFA, and it is almost sacrilegious to pick holes in anything that he does. There is no escaping the fact, though, that he hates being on the back foot and that even a score of 34 from EA Sports when it comes to the art of defending could be considered a little high!