This is a new thread poll to reset the previous thread that is outdated IMHO. You can find the previous thread here to see some funny posts from 2 years ago:

http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=55765

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I think Messi is the better player, and will have the biggest impact on the game over his career. I also think he'll have the larger goal+assist combo this season, as he has every other season that both have played in La Liga.

Some of the stats up to this point so that you can all see where they stand now:

Messi in La Liga this season: 8 goals in 911 minutes plus 2 assists (Goal every 114 minutes)
Robinho in La Liga this season: 5 goals in 816 minutes plus 3 assists (Goal every 163 minutes)

Messi in CL this season: 4 goals in 5 matches plus 1 assist
Robinho in CL this season: 3 goals in 4 matches plus 1 assist

Messi has scored in 10 of 17 matches in LIga and CL this season so far.
Robinho has scored in 6 of 15 matches in Liga and CL this season so far.

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Messi in all Liga and CL over past 3 seasons: 58 games started (13 as sub), 34 goals 6 assists.
Messi gets a goal every 2.1 games. (twice as often as Robinho)
Messi gets an assists every 11.8 games. (about equal to Robinho)

Robinho in all Liga and CL over past 3 seasons: 74 games started (25 as sub), 23 goals, 9 assists.
Robinho gets a goal every 4.3 games. (half as often as Messi)
Robinho gets an assists every 11.0 games. (about equal to Messi)

good thread at the moment its messi but since the beginning of this season robinho suprised me and he's so entertaining to watch i really dont know robinho just needs to be more stronger

but i like robinho more as a player that just my opinion

Messi. He is Barça like Henry was Arsenal.

Messi x3

You know where I stand: Robi by a nose, particurly at the end of the season. BTW Rycarrd is playing with fire by using Messi so much and not subbing him. He is gonna get burnt out.

When we have Deco, Eto'o and Henry back, I'm sure Messi will get his due rest.

messi is better for sure, nothing can change that fact

Clearly its Messi, he simply has been far more effective than Robinho and shows greater maturity on the pitch

And by the by how come some speak of Robinho as if he's a 18 year old who is going to surpass all other players??

Robinho is 23, he wasn't even young enough to be eligible to for the young player award at the 2006 World Cup.
He's older than C.Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and Iniesta just to put it into perspective.

Who's better technically??
Who's better tactically??
I think most would say it's Messi, better first touch, ball control and better at bringing teammates into the game with vision and passing. Of course Robinho got better step-over's and arguably better futsal skills.

Don't get me wrong, Robinho's a very good player, but Messi clearly the superior player.

Who is better tactically? Robi clearly. Today we saw the difference in approaches and the results that followed. Robi dominated Racing with his passing touch and vision. He realised that Racing was afraid of him and was marking him with up to four men. Instead of going one on four with a 25% chance of success, he chose to pass out and set up the two early goals. Messi dominated Espanyol with his dribbling. He went one on four a number of times with varying degrees of success. However at the crucial juncture for the game and with the game on the line, that approach failed. Barca drew a match they needed to win. Rijcarrd himself was slightly critical of this approach by Messi, according to reports on Goal.com, saying that with a little more experience, Messi efforts could have helped win the game.

So so much for Messi being better tactically. Please!!!!!!

really, i didn't notice that. Even in the highlights i only saw one scene of Robinho, where he dived for a penalty.
btw. Messi got an assist yesterday, a really good one.

Yes, messi is not experienced, but still more experienced with 20 years than Robinho with 23.

I think we all know that this is going to be a Real vs Barca thread, but im going to add my two cents anyway.

Firstly, i think who will end the season better will depend on a lot of things, primarily injures not just to Robinho or Messi but the players around them, the little things will also make the world of difference and everything combined makes this far too difficult to say who will finish better than who but something in my gut says Messi will finish better but Robinho will have more of an impact.

The better player overall is a no contest, Messi wins hands down. From the offset he brought consistency, maturity and the game winning factor that you just cant put your finger on. Robinho was living off that night in Cadiz for too long until last season when he really started to show us what he could do, since he hes almost been a different player, yes he still brings his sliky tricks and flicks and he still runs at defenders and takes men on with his stepovers but hes become consistent in his actions, his decision making has drastically improved and he has become a much better and more mature player.

I feel the future will be different story, something just makes me think Robinho will be the more decisive player, im not going to say who will be the better player because its just too difficult to say, now saying Robinho will have a bigger impact doesnt mean o say that Messi wont have an impact because im sure he will but something about Robinho makes me think he'll do something or be a part of something very significant during his time in football.

I had to say Messi for all 3, in my opinion he is a level above Robinho, a whole different class, theres just something about him that no other player has or will have. Take a look at his assist for Iniesta's goal last night, he absolutely skinned Clemente (who would be regarded as quite a pacy fullback) and then had the wherewithall to pick out Iniesta.

Both player are favorites of mine but Messi is on a different level. He is the best player in the world for me right now. Messi imo remind me of the 96-99 Ronaldo. The way he played this season not just goals and assist. I can only describe it as

That comment seems catty and uniformed. Just listen to the commentary on the game ( RM v. Racing) by the Gol Tv announcers. They were raving about the game plan of Schuster and Robi. They know a little more about the game than any of us posting here. It was clear that Robi was the master of ceremonies out there , particularly in the first half, being the magic man setting everything in motion. Raul scored the goals but Robi set the table.

It is OK to be partisan but we do not have to devalue what each players does, do we?

It's hilarious that you would bring up the Gol TV announcers, becuase one of them called every black player in the Real Madrid team 'Robinho', specifically, he credited 'Robinho' for a great pass that led to the second goal, when in fact it was Baptista, and the other announcers subtly corrected him a few minutes later.

Wow you are just jumping into conlcusions arent you. You are comparing a game played by Barcelona against their local rivals away to a game Madrid played at their home turf. If you happen to visit Montjuic Olympic stadium of Espanyol in Barcelona, and coming from first hand experience as I am currently living in Barcelona for the last few months, you will precisely know why it is not in the favourite books of many teams. The atmosphere there for the away team is a bit too intimidating. So to compare the performance of Robinho at home to that of Messi away, in arguably one of the least preferred grounds of any teams, is not the best of the comparisons.

Secondly, you are quoting Rijkaard out-of-context, he never criticized Messi pointedly. In-fact he has been flattering Messi with adjectives if you happen to read through the official stuff. He pointed to one aspect of the game of Messi that needs to be improved while heaping praise on Messi - Note the subtlety involved.

Now coming to the tactical aspect. There is a reason and to quote you as well "tactical reason" if i may be permitted to use that over-hyped word why Messi runs with the ball. The close-control of Messi is so good that the defenders have to track back. and wait for him to come at them as opposed to running behind him. This actually opens up space in the midfield as the defensive line is dropped and hence there is more space for the likes of Iniesta/Xavi etc.. to move the ball better in the final third of the field. In short Messi forces the tempo of the game to a higher level. Also note the number of players double and triple teaming Messi thereby crucially freeing his own team-mates. If Messi continues to look for the easy pass the game of Barcelona will be a lot more predictable and one-paced like for example the game against Rangers or Villareal. I thought Messi looked for the easy option in those games.

This is precisely the reason you will see that Messi is selfish and so direct in his approach. Of course, this can be looked in two ways: the other way is that he sucks on the ball way too much, so to put it bluntly. Now coming to think of it, Messi does overdo it sometime and I dont deny it as well. Given that he is just 20 years of age and will in time mature and improve on that part of the game. Its a question of age and can only come with experience. It may as well be the the case that all the positive press might have gone into his head a bit, But that is life and he will know to live and go ahead with it, it has happened to many and Messi certainly is not the first or last of them as well.

coming to Robinho, he is a very good player and starting to show to the audience the kinda game he has. All credit to him, Who will be the better player??..now the answer to that is pure speculation . It may very well be the case that both might end up being all-time-legends or might as well end up , so to quote Cryuff, like De-La Pena(no offense to the player who is a good player actually). but from the evidence from the past 2.5 seasons there is no denying at least one of them is definitely on the way up -something a certain FIFA may agree on.

I respect your opinion. But my comments weren't just based on one game, but over the course of three seasons. I have always thought that it was Robinho's tactical inaptness that lead to him not delivery the goods for Real Madrid for so long. Even at times early last season he was playing like Cristinano Ronaldo did in his first season at Man Utd, which was a lot of fancy stuff but no end product. I still think it was a combination of off-the-field stuff and tactical inaptness that led to Robinho not being trusted by Capello, one of the most successful managers in the world. You mentioned how Robinho "dominated Racing with his passing touch and vision", that was exactly how Messi played against the socceroos for Argentina when I saw him play live in Melbourne.

Yes I agree that Robinho tactical awareness has improved substantially, but I still feel that Messi has shown it over a longer period, which i feel is one of the reasons he has shined in la liga when his was in his teens. I just think that Messi makes more intelligent runs and shows greater awareness as demontrated when his plays of teamates to make space for himself or when makes the last past in the final third of the pitch (Henry has received many of these, but just keeps on missing). With Robinho I reckon he passes well in midfielder, but not as well in the final third on the pitch.

I also agree that probably Messi tries to go one-on-one when a pass would be the better option, but this is a problem we tend to see in all young talented dribblers like C.Ronaldo and also Robinho (Isn't this what plagued him during his early days at Real Madrid?). This has even happened to Ronadinho at times this season in when in trying to go one on one, he held the ball for too and ended up being neatralized. Note that when to dribble is just one aspect one tactically ability, there are others like timing of off-the ball runs, having the vision to make defence-splitting passes etc.

i choose:

1. Robinho

2. Messi

3. Even

Zooronson:

First, let me say excellent post.

I agree that Robi's tactical unawaremness hurt him early in his career at RM. I feel that Messi has regressed in this arena primaily due to the deification that he is receiving from Barca fans. He is only 20 and the amount of press he gets for one on four moves must have gome to his head. It is only natural. This is one of the reasons that he has regressed in the tactical arena this year, IMO. The last game against Espanyol typifies what I am talking. He sets up a wonder goal in the early part of the game by going around three guys and squaring to Inesta but when he attempts to do this again twice at the end of the game, he either loses the ball and/or is dispossessed. The problem is the press clippings. He is trying to do too much.

Just dropping in for a minute because this topic intrigues me a little bit.

I'll comment more tomorrow but for tonight all I have to say is:

1. Try and see things from a neutral perspective every once in a while
2. When someone mentions Gol Tv announcers and intelligent in the same sentence or states that they "know a little more about the game than any of us" it brings me one step closer to putting that person on the ignore list. FFS dude, Ray Hudson knows fuck-all about football and his escudero ( can't remember the word in english) is about as smart. Even half the folks in the English Football section are smarter than him.

Are you so desperate to prove robinho's worth to this world that you use RAY HUDSON, I repeat, RAY HUDSON as a significant point to your dubious plot? I know you have better proof and stuff to share by the way.

I know you love Robinho and I like him too, but I know you can come up with a better argument than this.


P.S. ROGA, thanks for moving this out of the Madrid sub-forum.

First, I am always willing to listen to and to stand corrected by a fellow Madrista. Hala Madrid!!!

Second, while I agree that Ray Hudson is not the greatest authority on football, I believe that he knows a bit more than some anonymous 22 year old spouting non-verifiable stats on a on-line board, won't you. Who would listen to first? Hudson is former professional football player. I will take Hudson any day of the week and twice on Sundays. If that puts me on the ignore list, so be it.

Third, I do not rate any poster here more or better than any other. We are just a bunch of guys gathering to offer our opinion on a sport we love. That is it. Unless any poster can verifiably prove that he has professional football experience and speaks from this base of knowledge, these are all opinions and opinions are like assholes. Everyone has got one.

i think robinho could be better if he would be bigger and stronger but right now messi is miles ahead of him.

Thoughtful post. I did not agree with every point but there is food for thought there.

I still think that even despite the amazing close control of Messi and its central use in the Barca tactical offensive plan, the sometime failings of such an approach were observable in the Espanyol game, IMO.

You keep going back to the Espanyol game, but you do realize that Barca were without many of their players for that match, especially offensively.

If Robinho were without Ruud (Eto'o I guess), Raul (Henry I guess), Higuain (Gio Dos Santos), Guti (Deco I guess), and WS was on the bench (Ronadinho I guess)... don't you think Robinho might be effected?

NOTE: Before this thread becomes a debate on the other players I listed and how they are not actually equal, let me just say it was for a quick example, not to say I think Guti and Deco are equal, or Raul and Henry etc.....

I've never been a big fan of Robinho, he isn't bad by any means, but I'd prefer Messi any day.

Yes, I agree that the loss of those significant players have affected Messi's choices. But you must acknowledge that that Barca (sigh!) has the deepest well of talent of all the major clubs right now. He still had Inesta, Bojan(I know he is a newbie but he is amazing) and Xavi. That is not a bad collection of guys to pass to.

IMO, the point about Messi 's close control being used as a wedge to open up the defense is a great one. The problem is that Messi sometimes takes it too far. His close control is so vastly superior to anyone playing currently( and that includes Robi) that he becomes intoxicated with what he can do with the ball. That is both an asset as well as a trap.


I refer to the Espanyol game because I thought it was very instructive. You also saw the same thing against Lyon in the CL match. Messi will beat two to three guys early in the game and score a wonder goal or set up a tap in. But late in the match, he will lose the ball by taking on one guy too many. Why does this happen? I believe because he is tired and by the end of match, thinks that he can do anything on the ball. I believe that once he beats the second guy coming at him, he should be passing to Iniesta a la what Robi did to Julio Baptista, who then can quickly find either Bojan or Godjohnsen streaking to the goal a la Raul against Racing. If that had been done at the end of the game, you would have won the game at least by the score of 3-1.

Schuster and Robi came up with a brillaint game plan to counter the increased attention Robi is getting. In the CL game against Werder Bremen, Robi scored a wonder goal by going one on four. He beat the first two guys and by the time the other two came over to stop him entering the penalty box area, he took the great shot and scored. For the rest of the game, although he came close, he could not duplicate that again. That problem was fixed against Racing. First Gago was replaced by Baptista ( a guy who can pass). Then Robi when faced with a one on four situation, beat the first two guys and then passed to Julio, who then one touched the ball to the streaking forwards. The defense men for the forwards are already leaning/cheating towards stopping Robi from explioting the left flank and so left the forwards open for couple of seconds. At this level, that all you need and boom RM scored twice in the first half on the same play sequence. Did you guys think the RM game plan was accidental?

Barca used the same close control game plan by Messi against Espanoyol, as was used against Lyon. In both matches, Barca had draws when you should have won the games going away.

I can't wait for the day 3 years from now when the madridistas are trying desperately to convince us all that robinho is a better up and coming prospect than bojan....


you know the biggest flaw in the messi vs robinho debate is that they shouldn't really be compared against one another at all. robinho is like 3 years older than messi, 3 years is a huge amount of time in a footballers lifespan. really you should be trying to compare robinho to say cristiano ronaldo or kaka or even robben, you know, players who have just begun to enter their prime footballing years...but you can't compare robinho to those players because he is so far behind in his developement that it would be laughable.

the other funny thing is that while the robinho people endlessly need to define robinho next to messi, the rest of the world is evaluating messi's footballing prowess in terms of where he stands with the likes of maradona. while the robinho/pele comparison ship has sailed away a long long time ago.

I think you should have seen him in Copa America , none of the above were with him that time nor Kaka , and you should have seen who Messi was with that time.

i dont know maybe he's jesus or somthing messiah anyone ?

btw my opinion is that they are both great players ;however messi's style of play will always allowing to be more effective his direct dribbling and explosive style will always have a better end product . Robinho's style fits him turning into the new Ronaldinho , his shooting will be his demise could have had way more success infront of goal had it not been for his weak shot at goal

messi will mostly likey be the better player this season ;however Robinho will be more instrumental a more important to his team being that he's the only true difference making player on his team , with the l ikes of Etoo henry Ronaldinho iniesta and such playing for us messi will always get more space to operate and do his magic thus winning out statistically over Robinho .




dont mean to offend mate but that is nonsense have you ever heard of Ronaldo El phenomeno
he was the best dam player on the planet when he was 19-25 untouchable even if he did not win the awards no sane mind could say he was not

now have you ever heard of Zidane he was a no name when Ronaldo Dominated at such a young age and he was much older somthing like the Robinho messi margin or more , now is it not amazing that Zidane turned out the much wiser player , he became a genius with age and got himself into the oracles or football list .

a few years back Cristiano Ronaldo was nothing but a bag of tricks not look at him , its amazing what time and maturity can do mate so never count a player out . take into consideration that Robinho is not 28 but 23

messi beatifull playing robinho sorry

Robinho was very good at the copa, no doubt. But his performance back then is way overrated. People say he carried the team, but he carried nothing. He was good against the likes of chile but once he was facing an average defence he failed misserably, the same things happened for Madrid so far. Look at the game against Mexico, Uruguay or Argentina. And theire defences are a joke compared to ManU or Inter. There will allways be a good game out of 5 against a top team, but that's not enough for a player with his talent.

you even give credit to Robinho for coming up with the game plans now!

As for Espanyol and Lyon being the same, you might notice that the lack of Eto'o, Deco, Henry and Ronaldinho in the starting 11 was also the same. Messi doesn't have proven forwards to pass to without those players on the pitch. Bojan is great, but he's a 17 year old kid just starting his career. Iniesta is great, but he's back in midfield 99% of the match. You'll see a more generous Messi when the team is healthy and the real strikers are playing. You'll also see more away goals. Still, even with these problems, Messi has the same number of assists as Robinho. And I'm not even counting the 'assist to an assist' like you are. I could point out the goal vs Lyon where Messi drew in the defenders, passed out to Bojan who one timed it across to Iniesta who one timed it to the back of the goal....... if Robinho did such a thing you'd be saying it was "Robi's brilliant game plan".... I just call it expected traditional team work.



Exactly! I hate how people forget that Robinho at the copa was only good vs Chile! Robinho was absent in the final and the semi fianl, and also the first match vs Mexico. Robinho played 6 matches in the Copa, he had ZERO assists, and 5 of his 6 goals were vs Chile! He did NOTHING agianst Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay.

Riquelme was the best player at the Copa, but because his team didn't win, he didn't get the prize, fair enough.

Anyhow, that's old news, but I'm glad someone else realizes this other than me.



I saw every match, and messi was a far better team player in that tourney. Riquelme was even better though. Messi at least had an assist or two to his name at the Copa, Robinho did not. Messi scored against a good defensive team in Mexico, Robinho did not.

yeah but ah...people have been talking up robinho since he was like 18, he's hardly going the route to greatness that zidane traveled...yet he does seem to be following ronaldo's path quite nicely. maybe when he's 28 he'll be just as lazy drunk and bloated as el phenomeno.

word, every young brazilian that does a trick is considered the next pele, like Kerlon who can do the Seal Dribble oh wow!!! im sure a taller play can use his head or body to push him off the ball, but you see stupid defenders kick at his legs when the ball is on his head
every talented youngsta at the age of 6 is considered a legend in the making
its so bad that ppl are saying Robinho is better than Ronaldino, did ppl forget who Ronaldinho is and how great he was??? from PSG to Barca, raping defenders pulling off insane goals that Robinho hasn't even done yet
but now Ronaldinho sucks and Robinho is in the form of his life, all a sudden Robinho is considered better than Ronaldinho ever was
even on youtube, ppl post 20 min compilations of Robinho doing stepovers and flicks, when Ronaldino was raping everyone, to the Villareal bicycle kick to the w/e u name it, owning Madrid etc...

to 90% of fans on Soccerpulse or Brazilians, flair is everything, even if it is uneffective, its always about the Joga Bonito to ppl even if the player isn't all that great
i even bet if Cesc Fabregras was Brazilian, even tho he has a great and good impact of the game b/c of his passing and vision but since he isn't very flair like and doesn't do tricks, Brazilans or other Joga Bonito fans would consider him rubbish...

I really dont know what to say to the above post.
I dont know how serious to take some of your comments - Gago cant pass??
Wow that is news!!.
Are you really a Real Madrid fan?
For a start Gago is a different type of a midfielder as compared to Baptista with different strengths as compared to the beast.
Next, you really didnt understand what i was telling didnt you?. I never said that Barcelona just sit back and wait for Messi to do the rest while the other players enjoy the wonderful green turf, the nice weather and maybe even the Barceloneta beach. What I did mean, was Messi's game was a strength for Barcelona to exploit space and they do have lots of options. It in no way means that the other players like Iniesta, Xavi,Dinho etc... are just standing there like telephone posts waiting for the ball to come. They are more than capable and talented to turn around a game in their own unique ways .

You are next comparing Robinho's game with Messi. I really dont understand this. Are you serious on this? By your posts it means that Robinho and Schuster have a plan, and it will be a begin-all and end-all one, for teams to win a game. Thats it -hell with astute managers like Mourinho and co.
It doesnt work that way does it? Barcelona have a game plan with Messi while Real have another with Robinho. And thats that, both have their own merits and de-merits.


I really cant make head and tail of what on earth you are upto with this. I will leave it like that.

Messi is much better. I would say at a different level than Robinho. Robinho usually dribbles at the defence until the outside of the area and then shoots. The thing is he has a terrible shot. One of the worst in the league I would say. Messi penetrates much more. Messi can start to dribble in any part of the field, unlike Robinho who has to start close to the area. Messi finishes off many more dribbles than Robinho. He has the ability to dribble into the defence instead of Robinho who limits himself to shoot or go outside and cross where he is less effective. Messi has the ability to do much more than Robinho and is much more effective as an individual player. Everytime Messi gets the ball the play usually turns into a goal or a great chance. Thats what is so amazing about him. No other player has this ability. Robinho when he gets the ball he has the ability to do anything but not with the ease and frecuency with which Messi does it. Messi is at a much higher level than Robinho I would say. No comparison.

yeah but u have to admit robinho as come on leaps and bounds the past couple months and as far as i remember ronaldinho didnt turn the corner till he was 23-24, though he had already won a world cup..

Yea i agree with you, Robi did improve a lot...therefore I cannot imagine the monster Messi would turn into at the age of 23-24....with improved teamwork, vision, shooting ( with right leg) + a bit of tricks?

That's the dilemma. While Robinho is no longer the young kid who is pretty good, he is now genuinely an effective threat to any opposition theme. But Messi has been an effective threat now for a couple of years and he has so much potential yet to tap into. For me, Messi is the best player on the planet - so I'd recognise him as being better than Robinho, but I do rate Robinho.

IMHO, the game against Lazio today proves what has been said here about Robi. When the team needs a win, he simply steps up and takes over. Simple genius!!!! No doubt the first half display cements his credentials as one of the early favorities for WPOY. Tp prove my point, when RM takes him off for the second half, the team tries migntily but sonething is missing: the spark of genius to create goals.

Confucius: You are Mr Statman. Is that one goal and two assists or one goal and one assist today? think Messi could match this? LOL How did you guys like that corner, huh? Lazer beam to the head of Raul.

He is already at that level. Robinho has 4 goals in 6 matches in the UCL, and 5 goals in La Liga so far this year. That's 9 goals in 15 appearances. That's an average of exactly .6 a game.

Messi has already scored 2 goals in a game twice this season, and has added several more assists. Also, Messi has scored in 10 games for Barca this season, and in the CL he has scored in 4 of the 5 games Barca has played in (the only one he didn't score in the 0-0 draw with Rangers). He has scored 8 goals for Barca in La Liga this season, for a total of 12 goals in 19 appearances. That's .631 goals a game.

So based purely on statistics, Messi has an advantage. Also, Messi has had at least the same threat in providing assists as Robinho has so far this year.

Also, I didn't see the game between RM and Lazio today, but wasn't RM up 3-1 at halftime?? And if so, doesn't it mean that they could take their foot off the gas pettle a little bit and afford to have a somewhat stagnant attack in the 2nd half? Surely then both teams realized the game was over at that point.

[quote name='Zin' post='2313700' date='Dec 12 2007, 12:53 AM']He is already at that level. Robinho has 4 goals in 6 matches in the UCL, and 5 goals in La Liga so far this year. That's 9 goals in 15 appearances. That's an average of exactly .6 a game.

Messi has already scored 2 goals in a game twice this season, and has added several more assists. Also, Messi has scored in 10 games for Barca this season, and in the CL he has scored in 4 of the 5 games Barca has played in (the only one he didn't score in the 0-0 draw with Rangers). He has scored 8 goals for Barca in La Liga this season, for a total of 12 goals in 19 appearances. That's .631 goals a game.

So based purely on statistics, Messi has an advantage. Also, Messi has had at least the same threat in providing assists as Robinho has so far this year.

Also, I didn't see the game between RM and Lazio today, but wasn't RM up 3-1 at halftime?? And if so, doesn't it mean that they could take their foot off the gas pettle a little bit and afford to have a somewhat stagnant attack in the 2nd half? Surely then both teams realized the game was over at that point.[/quote]

Wrong on a couple of points.

The score at half time was 3-0. Robi did his damage in the first half, 1goal and 2 assists. He did not play in 2nd half; he was subbed off for Robben. I believe that RM wanted to do as much damage as in the first half, ifonly to get Robben comfortable with offense. Despite some bright moments, offense looks stagnant at times, lacking creative spark. Lazio continued playing with heart despite being down. Evidence was their scoring in the 80th minute and the Lazio penalty gotten in extra time. So much for them taking it easy, huh!!!

it's pretty funny that whenever Robinho plays good you're coming here and desperately trying to prove that Robinho is better and that he's winning the WPOY award . Man, IT ISN'T EVEN 2008. It needs a bit more than 5 good games to win this prize. Just look what Messi did in 2007 (!) and he has no chance against kaka.....
He scored three against madrid, he scored one of the best goals ever and was the only reason why Barca why Barca was still able to compeete for the title.

If you wanna prove that Robi is good, then gratz you have proven it. But if you wanna prove that Robi is better than Messi, its not there yet I am sorry, but the truth hurts....

I'll give you this: You are one of the most consistent posters on SP!

I notice you were not in this thread the last 2 Real Madrid games when Robinho did nothing.... then, surprise, surprise, Robinho has a good half, and it is time to talk WPOTY 2008.... when we are still in 2007! And this half of great action was against Lazio, a joke of a team right now. We'll see how Robinho does at Camp Nou.

You'll notice we didn't all rush in here to promote Messi every goal or assist he gets.

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Anyhow, updated stats:

Messi Liga: 8 goals, 3 assists.
Messi CL: 4 goals, 1 assists.

Robinho Liga: 5 goals, 3 assists.
Robinho CL: 4 goals, 3 assists.

Messi Total: 12 + 4 = 16
Robi Total: 9 + 6 = 15

Messi took most of Barcelona's penalties Robinho didn't Robinho > Messi!!

I think it's a case of, for me anyway, Messi being the better player overall but Robinho being in better form this season.

well, Robinho plays for madrid....

If you take away Messi's PK goals in La Liga, they are both at 5 goals.

Why does this thread even exist ?

Robinho>>>>>>>>Messi