Lionel MESSI saves Barcelona, DYBALA scores for Juventus

By
Roy Nemer
-
77
Lionel Messi saves Barcelona Sevilla La Liga
Lionel Messi saves Barcelona Sevilla La Liga

Lionel MESSI saves Barcelona while Paulo DYBALA scored for Juventus.

New match, same script it appears for many Barcelona matches. With Lionel MESSI not taking part in either of Argentina’s friendly matches against Italy and Spain, the little magician was on the bench for Barcelona when they visited Sevilla on Saturday in La Liga.

With Ever BANEGA and Joaquin CORREA both starting for Sevilla, they took a 1-0 lead in the first half and doubled it five minutes into the second half. With the score at 2-0, Ernesto VALVERDE brought MESSI on and the entire match changed.

An instant impact, MESSI was involved in two plays which nearly (and should have) resulted in goals. Luis SUAREZ scored in the 88th minute to pull one back for Barcelona. One minute later, Lionel MESSI was the hero and scored from outside of the penalty area to give Barcelona a 2-2 draw.

Moving over to Italy, just like Mauro ICARDI, Paulo DYBALA was recently left out of the Argentina team and he’s back scoring. A big match against rivals AC Milan, DYBALA scored early, 8 minutes into the match in their 3-1 win. Paulo DYBALA’s shot, just like MESSI’s, was from outside of the area.

Per Opta, both Lionel MESSI and Paulo DYBALA are the players who have scored the msot goals from outside the box in Europe’s top five leagues this season. Both of them have managed 7 goals.

Argentina National Team coach Jorge SAMPAOLI will have his hands full in figuring out who gets on the plane to Russia for the World Cup and who stays in Argentina.

Lionel MESSI scores for Barcelona

Paulo DYBALA scores for Juventus

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

77 Comments

  1. I think he still gets a call up for the 35 man roster. Sampaoli would still be stupid not to call him, remember that all players may not come fully healthy (Aguero, Di Maria, dare I saw Messi) I think the silver lining for Dybala is that he has a chance now to impresssiin Argentina training camp sinceJuventus is out of champions league.also likely that Aguero and Messi won’t make the Argentina camp because of champions league so should give him time to show himself.

    Also. Let’s not forget this is one game and Dybala has had many good recent showings. Albeit not in champions league, still he looked decent tonight, better than Higuaín.

    Cut Higuaín! He whiffed on another. His only place on the team for me is backup to Aguero to come on and rest Aguero but still
    Look dangerous. He cannot be a starter and he cannot be relied on.

  2. The game vs Spain wasn’t on tv. So I had to watch Brazil vs Germany. I’ve finally watched the game vs Spain today and here are my thoughts –

    Mascherano – He made some good passes. That’s all I found familiar with the old Mascherano. Other than that, his positional awareness is absolutely gone. Overall passing was bad. Very sad to see him go out with his head down at 4-1. His NT career is over. By subbing him off on the hour mark, I think Sampaoli admitted that this Mascherano experiment is over.

    Biglia – Sampaoli was trying to generate the inner Paulinho in Biglia, pushing him upfield, trying to create numerical advantage around the Spanish box, even making goal threatening runs. Tactically it was good. But unfortunately what Sampa did find out in Biglia was…well, the 100% pure Biglia!

    Rojo – He was repeatedly leaving Otamendi to deal with two strikers. He has all the qualities required for a good CB. But I always thought he has some serious temperament issue. I have seen him kicking players after he got beaten by them in club football. He just kicks them and doesn’t care about the consequences. I wouldn’t trust him as a CB in a 4 men backline.

    Banega – What did he do in the whole 60mins? Younger players were supposed to look at an experienced guy like him to bail them out. Instead they were looking at Lo Celso.

    Bustos – Well, I don’t think he has had a worse game than this in his life. He was physically there but mentally he was probably somewhere else.

    Otamendi – Clearly the only guy who was trying to save the day, until the 5th & 6th goal.

    Caballero – Couldn’t really do much to stop those. But almost all goals were scored at his near post. Is he slightly vulnerable there? I would like him to continue anyway.

    Pavon – He had a good game.
    Meza – A good first half. Faded in the 2nd half.
    Lo Celso – Clearly the stand out performer for us in both halves. This guy has got leadership skills too. He warned Bustos to watch out in the 2nd and 13th minute of the match. This is refreshing to see from a young player.

    I think it’s a blessing that we lost so badly. All our flaws were laid bare. Higuain, Biglia and Mascherano doing it here instead of a cup final is a blessing. Otherwise all of them would go to Russia.

    On the positive note, I thought we played some good football in pieces. Tagliafico-Meza and Meza-Lo Celso combination was good in the first half. After the introduction of Pavon and Martinez, we immediately improved from 60mins to 74mins. The last two goals then ended the contest.
    We scored from another set piece. This is turning into a regular source of our goals.
    I hope the ruthless Argentine media will force Sampaoli to drop both Biglia & Mascherano and bring someone, anyone to play in the holding position.

    • Excellent analysis. Rojo will be the same player in 2 month, same for Higuain, Maschereno and Biglia. Better to cut loss now instead of trying to play safe. But I think still need to keep Biglia as there is no much option in the holding midfielder position.

  3. Both A. Correa and J. Correa are on fire and can be stars of any match they play. Lamela, who?

  4. Apparently Non of the spurs players want Lamela to take a shot at the goal… He could have atleast 1 goal had the Korean player son passed him the ball

    • Lamela is so overrated here on Mundo. He plays couple games, then he’s injured for 8 months. For me, he’s same type of player as Pastore, no strength, can’t fight for the ball and doesn’t play as it’s the last match of his life. Both Pastore and Lamela play just to have some fun, get a pay cheque and tell the girls they are footballers. Lamela was invisible in every match he or Pastore played for the NT.

      • I believe there is more to these two than the obvious.
        Both need to move to other clubs. Pastore plays on a team full of egos while Lamela is far down on the pecking order that starts with Kane then Kane then Kane……..etc

  5. I think at RB we can use Ansaldi I was amazed that why Sampoli did not call him again.Neither he gave him a proper chance to play.His main position is LB but he also play RB occasionally. O have no doubt on his offensive traits but is he good defensively because he is a defender.Is he good in tackling, blocking,recoveries,aerial duels etc? Please tell me or post a link of his defensive skills.

  6. I think at RB we can use Ansaldi I was amazed that why Sampoli did not call him again.Neither he gave him a proper chance to play.His main position is LB but he also play RB occasionally. O have no doubt on his offensive traits but is he good defensively because he is a defender.Is he good in tackling, blocking,recobering,aerial duels etc? Please tell me or post a link of his defensive skills

  7. Mamoun,

    what do you think about Enzo, Nacho and Zuculini in River midfield. Looks like the team is past worst. Pity Martinez had another great performance.

      • Caballero
        Romero
        Guzman

        Bustos
        Mercado
        Otamendi
        Fazio
        Rojo/Pezzella
        Tagliafico

        Battaglia
        Lanzini
        Lo Celso
        Paredes
        Meza
        Acuna
        J.Correa
        Enzo/Pablo Perez
        Salvio/Pavon/Pity Martinez
        Papu Gomez/Di Maria

        Messi
        Dybala
        Martinez
        Icardi

          • i couldn’t disagree any more. At least against Italy we saw what Sampaoli is trying achieve and he at least hes called a ton of new players. i have never seen us perform so bad in the past 20 years under Bauza. We lacked any type of identity, pure defensive, horrible subs. We were awful.

        • My list will be similar to yours but I would take out Rojo, Di Maria and Salvio. I would take 5 Forwards instead of 4, so I would add one more to your list: Higuaín as a sub.

        • I like it, love it really. Play a 4-4-2 with Messi and DYBALA up front as the two forwards. I’m really dumbfounded about this thing about Messi and DYBALA not playing together. The first Sampaoli game was against Brazil in Sydney and Sampaoli played them both. Result?? Argentina controlled possession and oh btw Argentina won 1-0.

    • @Gonzalo

      I like all 3 to be honest, Enzo the CM, Nacho (box to box) and Zucu (b-b/DM) but again the stand out is Gonzalo pity, that boy has ‘it’ and he has it in spades, no matter how bad river got, pity kept his form! Next to Meza he is the most talented player in the primera and he should and MUST be called up because as much as I love lanzini I really don’t trust his fitness and Gonzalo is so much like Lanzini with his skill and versatility (although not as good defensively as Manu).
      Nacho seems to be regaining his form, which makes me hella happy because he’s the type of player that can add so much dimension to a midfield.

      I really hope this upswing with river continues and maybe, just maybe Nacho, Enzo and most of all pity get a second look.

  8. Lamela is lacking the final through pass other than that he is looking good… Caballaro could have stopped that goal… Seems like age is catching up with him now..

    • LOL, was about to ‘just’ say the exact same thing.
      A quality player both offensively and defensively, I want to see the version that played against Germany in that friendly.

      • It’s going to be a real tight game since Chelsea and Tottenham are fighting for a top four place in the English premier league,and the point difference between the two of them is not a big margin.

      • Roberto pereyra scored again for he’s club Watford. Showing some consistency,and by the way he’s a regular starter for he’s club.

  10. @Roy Nemer or anybody that can bring this to Roy’s attention.

    I would ask that somebody look at @Aimar homophobic comments and ban him from this website. Based on his profile he has been a member for 9 days here. If calling people f***gots is what we want on this website then we should keep him as an active member. If not, then he should be booted from this forum.
    I am sure that this is not what this forum is intended for. I am sure that this website does not want to be known for condoning that kind of behavior, or the attention that comes with it. Somebody please let Roy know.

  11. Zabaleta plays regularly almost for a year. Can be reliable for both defense and overlapping for second half or at least last 30 minutes. Can be a good mentor for Bustos also for right side. If we gonna lose always better to lose with disciplined guys like Zabaleta than Banega or Rojo. Also why Franco Vasquez totally ignored ? He reminds much of Busqets. Such a calm presence in midfield. Winning or losing is nothing, but again if we see Higuain Rojo Mascherano Biglia in the line up then we fans are the ultimate losers. Argentina seems never going to win the World Cup with an Argentine coach. We know for a long term football is an art for South Americans and Science for Europeans. Enough of arts and emotions. We need a Scientist like Ancellotti who never overlap his tactical side with the emotional side. Future is all about Science for Survival and Success. Arts we can enjoy occasionally…

    • Vasquez is a decent player but can only play behind the forward. Don’t try to replicate Sevilla’s 4231 with Argentina, we don’t have a DM like NZonzi.

      Football is not just an art for South Americans. It’s all about grinta and tactics, strategies. Look at the game Colombia-France, Pekerman dominated France with his tactics. He changed at least twice his playing system for coming back to score and finally won the match. Uruguay with 2 stars and the rest of the team are all fighters. They have been playing in the same system for decades.

    • That’s why I still feel there is no certainty who can be in 23 man squad.in may when squad will be decided I believe many may miss out due to injuries.meza tore his hamstring then he is out of wc

      • I doubt if somebody is injured specially smaller stature players sampa may not wait and take a risk.now lamela may has a chance if he performs well in this period.lautero Martinez most probably will not be selected so icardi has an outside chance if higuain not perform for juventus also

  14. I am sure messi will lift this world cup.sampaoli is a decent coach and he just needs to improve defence and dm spot and we will be a force to reckon with.just messi has to remain fit.he will play less for Barcelona this month and will be alright for Argentina in WC just hope hamstring injury don’t happen.ota-Fazio or ota-garay will be solid enough and some minor problem in fullbacks defensive duty and Argentina is set

  15. I really wish to see Joaquin Correa and Dybala in the final list. Joaquin Correa is that kind of modern attacker, able to play as winger and forward and likes to cut in from the left by his pace and strength. Even though his current stat is not so impressive, but I’d rather bet on him than on Higuain. I even think that his partnership with Messi will be better and more efficient than Messi+Aguero as Kun is now too similar to Messi, oscillating between playmaker and forward.

    Behind that pair, I expect a hybrid playmaker/winger. I believe that Samp’s 1st choice is Di Maria. Personally I prefer Lanzini. Both of them can assist, score and cross. They can play on both side and in the middle as well.

    It’s obvious that 3-men midfield is the best for Argentina, if offers better protection to the defense, better transition and allows to keep the ball. Lo Celso seems to be Samp’s 1st choice. It’s going to be him or Banega in the regista position. Whenever Samp started the game with both of them, it always finished by a defeat because both of them are static player. The other CM role, we need a box to box. Battaglia is an good option too but he wasn’t selected yet. I don’t know for which reasons Enzo was not chosen but I think Acuna can succeed in this role. For the DM role, Biglia’ll still be the 1st choice even though I prefer by far Kranevitter.

    Behind, I go for Mercado-Garay or Fazio-Otamendi-Tagliafico. According to the opponent, may use Salvio instead of Mercado.

    My starting XI: Romero-Mercado,Garay,Otamendi,Tagliafico-Lo Celso, Kranevitter or Biglia, Acuna-Lanzini or Di Maria-Messi,J.Correa

    • Lanzini will play right side and dimaria will play in left side both lanzini and dimaria is sure starter.i think if dimaria gets injured Meza can be his replacement

      • Ideally it’s to have both of them as starter but in this case, you got to remove the striker. If we play with 2 forwards(Messi + another) and 2 creative midfielders(Lanzini + Di Maria), this implies that we got to play with only 2 midfielders. The match against Spain proved that it’s suicidal. We have to play with 3 midfielders as we don’t have anymore world class DM.

        Hard to choose between Meza, Perotti, Angel Correa and Pavon. I like all of them, maybe slightly more Meza and Pavon. I don’t follow a lot the local championship but it’s quite obvious that they are so talented with their nice touch and crossing. To me, they are like Ribery in 2006, can add that insouciance to the team. There are also players that I like a lot and not even included in the list like Cervi, Papu Gomez, Vasquez and Joaquin Correa. I hope the performance of Joaquin Correa in champions league can finally help him to win his place.

    • 4-4-2
      romero
      bustos – pezella(Fazio)- otamendi – tagliafico
      dimaria – biglia- lanzini – acuna
      Messi – aguero

      romero
      bustos – pezella(Fazio)- otamendi – tagliafico
      dimaria – meza- banega – acuna
      Messi – aguero

      • Amit, your 4-4-2 is by far too much risky. I am fine with the 4 behind. Anyway, we don’t have much option on fullbacks whether we like it or not.

        In your first system, apart from Biglia, the other 3 players are high working players. But Acuna plays mainly on the left. Lanzini and Di Maria are more mobile players and they don’t like to stay in their own zone. That leaves Biglia facing 3-4 midfielders by himself, which created really unbalance. No offence, your 2nd one is even more risky with 3 wingers and Banega not so good in defense.

        We shouldn’t be too optimistic, should go for a more realistic solution. We need 3 midfielders: 1 holding(Biglia or Masch or Kranevitter), 1 more static regista staying in his zone for linking(Banega or Lo Celso or Paredes) and 1 box to box(Acuna or Enzo). I believe that Acuna can do what Matuidi achieved with France in 2014 or even more in this role. Unfortunately, no more time to test him in this position.

  16. Messi was right he don’t owe anything to public of Argentina.Most idiotic fan base around.after messi retire u guys will not even pass the quarter finals.you guys are that bad.even when you last won in 86 you guys played boring football just saved by a certain genius named maradona.your afa can’t even pay players properly and you slander messi.slandering a player without whom you would not have pass the group stage also last WC.he should not have comeback from retirement.then you guys could have seen how humiliating it is to not even qualify for WC.you slander a player who single handedly win the game scored a hattrick in attitude.so disrespectful fan base

    • Anuparno, i agree with you that Messi doesn’t owe anything to anyone as i am sure that he gives his all when he plays for Argentina, he wants the wc as badly as everyone of us does and he also has all the pressure on him.

      BUT, i totally disaggree with everything you said as (no offence) you sound like being more of a Messi fan rather an Argentina fan. Argentina in 86 was playing boring football?? Really? Argentina was bad during the qualifiers of that wc but during 86 wc we played entertaining football and won in style! Yes ofcourse we had Maradona who made the difference but we also had a compact and well-oiled team consisting of some world class players and some hard nosed players with lots of grit! I have watched all of our games of 86 wc and wwe were playing very beautiful football, we owened England, after our second goal Argentina took the foot off the gas and when they scored Argentina imediately dominated again and almost scored a third as the ball hit the post. The same happened against Germany in the final, we were the better team for the most part of the game and when they equalized Argentina scored the winner almost immediately, indicating that we were controlling the game.

      Argentina has huge amount of talent for the upcoming years and if we stick with one manager for a long time, develop all these talents properly and form a team with unity under much playing time we will be fine!

      We all love Messi and we are lucky of having him but lets not forget that Argentina is above everyone and for always, even after Maradona and Messi.

    • I discovered the football with this world cup and what a great memory. In 86, Argentina was just outsider. True that they were not the most spectacular team as they played with 4 defenders, 2 DM and 2 hard-working CM(in this time, team usually only used 1 DM, 1 AM and 2 wingers). But it was far from boring because overall the players were very agile, fast and young. For example, Enrique and Burruchaga were very technical players. Batista excellent in long passing. The fullbacks helped pressing high.

  17. Truth of the matter is this>>>>>>>> Both Barcelona and Argentina are fully dependent on Messi.
    Argentina is not a mediocre team as the media would have you believe since Thursday and Barcelona is not as good as their record indicates.
    Argentina in my humble opinion gets an A+ on attack fielding the most offensive power ever assembled by any nation or club since the inception of the game…Messi, Kun, Icardi, Dybala, Gomes, idiot Higuain and DiMaria plus more. The Key that has always eluded all managers thus far is how to have all this talent play together!!!
    Midfield, C+ to B-, the talent is there and its just a matter of getting the right combo.
    Defense a solid B if the players are picked and allowed to play together.
    Goalkeeping C+ to B-, Romero is not a bad keeper, 6’4″, good reaction, decent mobility, good PK shot blocker with a ton of experience and I honestly don’t believe Willy is better, he does some things better but less as a whole.
    The thing that makes Barcelona better than Argentina is how the team plays WITH Messi and not for him and its not like he wants it like that or how the media makes it out to be, its what he feels like doing because the rest of the team seems to stop and watch instead of participating.

    Like it or not, there is more pressure on Messi’s shoulder this WC than the previous two combined but Messi has come a long way since the Long-haired in South Africa.

  18. Sevilla had a great game. Barcelona got lucky. Banega had a superb game. Vazquez played good, even Correa. I think Argentina lacks a player like Nzonzi. Messi wasn t that good, he lost many of the ball. Than tge keeper made a mistake.

    • lacking a player like Nzonzi is excatly our freaking problem.

      Instead of Biglia, id easily go with Battaglia. Heck, id take Pizarro over Biglia at this point.

  19. Messi is always the best..We are so blessed to have him in our time. The question remains how the Arg helps and support him to win the WC not on the contrary by giving him.a burden.

    Sampaoli and Aimar duets must explore, keep the mind and eye open to select the best potential players for bringing the glory back. It is our last golden chance and moment.

  20. I could care less anymore what he does or any Argentine player does for any of their club teams. What I care about is every one of these gutless players we hold as Gods being “unfit” when it comes time to playing for their country.

      • It’s always the same story with ALL these overseas players. They don’t understand the importance of winning for their country. Win or lose at your club team and there is always next year. The World Cup you are lucky to get 1 chance at it. This generation has had 3 shots at it, Messi will have 4 shots at it….
        I could give a crap if their leg falls off during a game for your country. Better that then giving it all for your club

        • Well.. Its better to lose 6-1 in a friendly than to repeat another thrashing like 2010 against Germany in a WC knockout match right!!

        • you’re oversimplifying. we lost against germany for defensive error in the last few minutes. All other players played their hearts out all tournament and they did well. we also did well enough to reach 3 finals but the 2 results were sealed during penalties so how on earth does that mean they don’t care?

        • Well You don’t Care if their legs fall out coz you are a selfish cunt. But for them? its their career, something which is required to earn money and feed their family and no im not talking about Messi.

          What’s the point of playing a useless friendly, You dimwits need a life and something productive to do.

          2014 – Messi was walking all season with Barca and getting injured multiple times, When it came to WC, he was brilliant and then he burned out in the final.

    • Messi was clearly unfit just by looking at his touches today too. I dont think it would have helped Argentina even if he played against Spain. I think Spain thrashing has make Argentina underdog in the world cup, i think that is what it is needed. Too much media focus can create pressure. I think with fully fit Messi, argentina always has chance if choker score like Huigain do not choke again.

    • How is winning an official game comparable to a Friendly used for experimentation dumb fuck?? Are most of you Argentina faggots born brain dead? When was the last time Messi missed an important game for Argentina, Faggot?

      • I love guys like @Aimar.His mouth is a sewage thats dirtier than the shit that comes out of my ass. Good thing this is an internet forum because in real life you wouldn’t have the balls to talk that way to someone. If you did your tongue and your 2 cm dick would be cut off and jammed up your ass.

  22. The amount of hypocricy comming out of the media is insane!
    They are constantly saying that Argentina without Messi may not be consider among the best trams. Well, what about Barcelona? How many times including today match we witnessed that? But ofcourse, nothing was said about Barcelona.

    Lets be honest here, Messi is the main reason of Barcelona’s golden chapter of their history!

    • Barcelona looked some what similar to last week’s Argentina without messi… To be honest Barcelona is even weaker than Argentina without messi…

  23. Now Pre-Messi argentina fans will criticize Messi. Messi looked completely unfit today too however he had to come on especially due to the pressure of that barca coach who is hiding behind Messi. Messi scored one important goal but Sevilla GK is pretty bad, nevertheless the goal was crucial. Sampoali is right, if Argentina wants to win World Cup, they need to surround Messi with players that he feels comfortable to play with. Yes Argentina depend on Messi and solely lie on Messi’s superhuman powers. Last point, Argentina do not depend on Dybala, Fat Hugain, Di Maria or Augero. Messi will lead Arg. to World Championship and get the trophy and Sampoali should get best out of Messi, not other chokers just like Vs. Ecuador.

Comments are closed.