I think he's dominant *in moments* at 39

by Brendan , The Chemical and Oil Refinery State, Thursday, July 09, 2026, 11:42 (15 days ago) @ San Pedro

which, lest anyone mistunderstand my position, is absolutely part of his genius. Zlatan said for him the greatest ever is Messi and there's no discussion to be had, because what makes Messi great is that he sees the game on another plane from everyone else. He's able to be effective at 39 not because his level of play is so consistently higher than everyone else's, but rather because he knows where the highest-leverage moments are and he turns it on in the right place at the right time to meet those moments.

His footy IQ is absolutely off the charts insanely high, and that's what has always separated him from everyone else. In his prime it let him put up absurd goal scoring numbers because he could also run all over everyone for 90 minutes. At this stage he can't be the fastest guy on the field for the full 90 anymore, but he can pick the exact five moments where if he's faster than you for five seconds it's lethal.

Came across a really good video recently too where a mathematician explained that Messi's "gravity" changes the geometry of the pitch. It's not just his individual brilliance, it's that the entire shape of the game shifts because of how much attention he draws and how effectively he lures defenders out of position.

People make fun of him walking or even standing on the pitch and... well... yeah, that's the point man. He leads the Golden Boot race over Mbappe, 12 years his junior, and Haaland, 14 years his junior. Ronaldo runs around plenty, but until he had a brace against lowly Uzbekistan in the group stage, Ronaldo hasn't scored from the run of play for Portugal in five years. I care more about the goals than the running.

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"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." - Yeats