5 reasons why Messi doesn’t need to leave Barcelona to prove his greatness

Lionel Messi is one of the greatest footballers to have played the beautiful game. The Argentine set records tumbling over the years and we can expect more of the same from him. Even after all his achievements there are doubters who suggest that the Barcelona man needs to prove himself with other teams or in other leagues. Here are five reasons why Messi doesn’t need to leave Barcelona to prove his greatness.

#5 He has broken the myth of his over dependency on Xavi and Iniesta

Contarary to popular arguments, Xavi or Iniesta do not assist a major chunk of Messi’s goals

It is a popular argument that Leo Messi scores so many goals because he plays along with Xavi and Iniesta. This can easily be countered when you look at the number of goals scored by Messi that are assisted by the Spanish duo. In fact during Messi’s record breaking year when he scored 91 goals in a calendar year to break Gerd Muller’s record, he was assisted eight times by Iniesta and five times by Xavi. He was also assisted by 16 other players.

14/91 goals doesn’t seem like a big figure does it?

Some might even argue that assists alone cannot determine the impact Xavi or Iniesta has on Messi’s game. That’s a fair point and this is where you look at Messi’s performances for Argentina.

In the past there were claims that he couldn’t replicate his Barcelona form with his national side, but the captain proved his doubters wrong. In the year 2012, Messi equaled Batistuta’s record of 12 goals in a calendar year for Argentina. He continued down the same path in 2013 and 2014. He played a major role in Argentina’s road to the final during the World Cup and he didn’t have Xavi or Iniesta to depend on.

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#4 Even the legendary Pele only played for Santos and New York Cosmos

Pele is considered to be one of the greatest players ever, even though he played majority of his club career in Brazil

Pele is considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time or in fact ‘the’ greatest. The legendary Brazilian never played for a club in Europe. He spent 18 years of his career playing for Santos in Brazil and then another two years for New York Cosmos.

Other famous players like Paolo Maldini or Francesco Torri or Steven Gerrard or Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes have all played for a single club throughout their career and they are all considered to be among few of the best of their generations.

This further emphasizes the point that playing for one club throughout a player’s career or for a major part of their career doesn’t take anything away from what they have achieved.

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#3 Messi has already performed against the top teams from the top leagues around Europe

Messi scored a goal in the final of the 2011 Champions League, against Manchester United.

Messi doesn’t need to move to a different league or club to prove he is one of the best in the world. The champions league is a battle ground where the best in Europe face each other and Lionel Messi has proved himself on the biggest stage in club football on several occasions.

Messi has scored against teams like Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan, Manchester City, PSG and Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League. These teams are or were arguably the best in their league when Leo Messi and Barcelona played them. In fact both of Messi’s goals against Manchester United came in the final of the tournament.

Again some would argue that Messi has never scored against Chelsea, but that is in no way a measure of a player’s greatness.

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#2 He has surpassed the records of renowned players

Messi with the Ballon d’Or award in 2013

Messi has broken numerous records in his career and set new ones as well. Players like Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Samel Eto’o have also played for Barcelona, but none of them were able to even come close to Messi’s record breaking spree. This alone is a testament of the player’s skill and caliber.

The 27 year old is already the all-time leading goal scorer for Barcelona. He has scored 356 goals for them in 384 appearances. Messi is also the leading scorer in El Clasicos, if that game is not challenging enough to test a player like Messi, I don’t know what is. He has scored 21 times in this fixture so far, breaking the record of the late Di Stefano (18). Real Madrid’s icon Raul is third in the list with 15 goals. Cristiano Ronaldo on the other hand is 7th in the list with 13 goals and Messi has at least 5 or 6 good years of football left in him.

Messi is second in the list of all-time leading scorers in the UEFA Champions League. He is tied with Cristiano Ronaldo on 67 goals. Messi though has a better goals to game ratio of 0.78 compared to Ronaldo’s 0.65. Even if Ronaldo is the first one to break Raul’s record of 71 goals, Messi can still catch up to and break that record as he is almost 2 years younger to Ronaldo.

The biggest record that the Barcelona man has set has to be his 91 goals in a calendar year, breaking Gerd Muller’s 40 year old record of 85 goals.

He has also won the Ballon d’Or a record 4 times! In March 2013 Messi had set or broken a whopping 125 records!

What more does Messi need to do to prove his greatness? Leave Barcelona?

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#1 Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo vs Messi has to be the biggest individual battle in football

Messi vs Ronaldo has to be one of the biggest individual battles in football. It is a never ending debate.

Real Madrid is one of the best teams in the World and their rivalry with Barcelona is unmatched. So when these two teams play, it will put even the best of players under pressure and there cannot be a better game to shine and prove you are the best.

Moreover when Ronaldo plays in the same league, it is best that Messi plays in the same one in an opposite team so that the world can see these two great players go head to head and fight it out on the pitch every year.