Author: Liam

Lionel Messi sets such a high standard for himself that even if he has a decent season, people start saying that he is struggling.

For Messi, every season has got to be a top season because he is a superman of the soccer world.

If somebody has a look at Messi’s numbers in the previous season, he would find out that they are actually not that bad.

The 26-year old forward had 28 strikes to his name in the Spanish top tier. Yes, 28 goals. Still, there were murmurs that his game was coming down.

Of course, with Messi, you always expect more, but, people must realize that he is a human being after all. He might be miraculously talented, but, he is also bound to make mistakes, he is also bound to have off seasons.

The thing with Messi in 2013-14 was that he sustained an injury early in the season and that just happened to break his flow.

This season has not started too differently for the Argentinean either as he has again had an injury blow. It is reported to be just a minor blow, but, an injury always sort of disturbs you a little bit, even if it’s a minor one. Coming back is always difficult.

There is a lot of responsibility on Messi this season. He has to win back the La Liga for his team and also, he has to win back the Ballon d’or. In short, he has to prove again he is the best in the business in every mean.

He has not gone to feature for his country in the friendly against Germany keeping his niggle in mind. He doesn’t want to risk it. He himself would be very keen to make this season his own anyhow. His fans should just hope that his fitness doesn’t let him down again.

Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic recently completed a free transfer to Inter Milan after eight years in the Premier league. Even though he was faced with numerous injury troubles last season, he continues to be one of the top defenders in world football. The 32-year-old is still capable of playing at the top for a couple of more years, which explains the reason for Inter to waste no time in securing his signing. Vidic signed the contract with Inter several months ago. He has been part of the club’s pre-season training.

The 32-year-old need not wait a long time to come up against his former club, as Inter will be playing against Manchester United in a pre-season friendly match. Ahead of this encounter, Vidic has spoken about his memories with the Premier League giant. Due to his long association with the club, he refused the chance to move to another Premier league club despite several names showing interest in him. He has accepted the fact that Inter are no longer the top dog in world football. They have slipped down from their levels achieved in 2010 when they won three major titles in one season.

Vidic says that Inter are club in transition, but he is confident that they will recover.

“I had a lot of offers from different countries, even from England. With Inter, the club are in transition, trying to improve but I like the project. Inter will get bigger and bigger and I hope I can help them achieve their aims. If you look at club now, United is in transition. New players coming in, we (United) have changed managers, with first David Moyes and now Louis van Gaal and also the directors last year when David Gill left (and Ed Woodward was promoted),” said Vidic ahead of the pre-season friendly against United.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has come in for tremendous criticism for his recent poor performances in three different matches. Coincidently, Barcelona have lost all these three matches and as a result will be facing a summer of criticism. This is because the club have been knocked out of three different competitions in the space of a week. First was the Champions League exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

It was followed by a league defeat against Granada, which has put them four points behind the leaders Atletico. This has now been followed by a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.

In all these matches, Messi has been looking disinterested and has refused to run much over the course of the 90 minutes. There have been various suggestions for this poor performance from the 26-year-old, who has become used to scoring more than a goal per game in the last few years. Some have suggested that Messi is sad because of not being offered a new contract by the club despite his good performances. However, former club captain Juan Manuel Asensi has rejected such solutions since he recalled that Messi signed a new contract only 12 months ago.

He says that there is something else wrong with the player, but it is difficult to find out.

“I’m surprised and concerned. Something must have happened because Messi has always been committed to the most difficult games. Something’s happened and it must be big because Messi’s attitude hasn’t been right in recent games. He must be going through something powerful. There’s something wrong with Messi. Something deep must be going on with him. I see the sad face and I’ve never seen him like this,” said the former club captain.

Messi has 38 goals in all competitions this campaign.