OT: Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona (Update: Signs with PSG)

[Raps in 4]

These players are so anti competitive, playing with each other against each other. Europe club soccer is going down the wrong path

European soccer continues to be a joke. 3 top-5 players on the same team, while the rest of the league is basically a minor league. Not that he wasn't on similarly stacked teams in Barcelona before too, but at least La Liga had another 1-2 stacked teams to compete with him (the rest of every league beyond the 1-5 richest teams is always a minor league). This is why I can't support this garbage. We complain about super teams in in the NBA, but the NBA is a competitive utopia compared to the dumpster fire that is European soccer.

LOL how does anyone watch soccer? Such an illusion of competition

You have a couple underdog champs rarely but unless you were a Barcelona or Real fan your team wasnt winning **** or even had a chance. I think those 2 have won like 30 of the last 35 La Liga championships and 70% of its history. 90 La Liga titles in history and like 6-7 teams total have won at least one. That is pathetic lmaoooo

and lets not even get started on all the other pointless leagues

Now Messi on Psg? Christ so finally he plays without a super stacked team and hes running from the grind

NBA franchises are all on big cities relatively. Most European teams are small town based, so you really cant implement or expect cap rules or anything like that, big city teams will always be much bigger than teams based in towns with 20k people. When you live in small town and have a team, fanbases goal is not the title or champions league, never has been and never will be, its just something you support and hope to do its best. Big reason why Premier league is most competitive is because like 10 teams are based in London, one of the greatests cities in the world.
European sports believe most towns and cities should have a team, even it it means it will not be competitive, where USA sports believe only metropolies can have a team. Whichever you prefer.

Europe is geographically small. It doesn't make sense for every village to have a team. A big city is usually no more than 1-2 hours by train or car from a small town.

I just can't wrap my head around cheering for a team that is guaranteed to lose because the system is designed to ensure they lose. You can easily allow for some semblance of parity even without a salary cap and the existence of small market teams. MLB is a great example of this. MLB allows every team to have a farm system and guarantees 6 years of control for every player that a team discovers. That means when a small market team discovers a top tier talent, Barcelona or City or PSG can't just swoop in and buy that player for €200 million. They need to wait for that player to enter free agency. In the meantime, the small market gets to enjoy a competitive product for several years. But unfortunately, small market owners don't want that either because they like selling young players to richer teams and then pocketing the money. The system is rotten to its core.

[peZt]

These players are so anti competitive, playing with each other against each other. Europe club soccer is going down the wrong path

European soccer continues to be a joke. 3 top-5 players on the same team, while the rest of the league is basically a minor league. Not that he wasn't on similarly stacked teams in Barcelona before too, but at least La Liga had another 1-2 stacked teams to compete with him (the rest of every league beyond the 1-5 richest teams is always a minor league). This is why I can't support this garbage. We complain about super teams in in the NBA, but the NBA is a competitive utopia compared to the dumpster fire that is European soccer.

LOL how does anyone watch soccer? Such an illusion of competition

You have a couple underdog champs rarely but unless you were a Barcelona or Real fan your team wasnt winning **** or even had a chance. I think those 2 have won like 30 of the last 35 La Liga championships and 70% of its history. 90 La Liga titles in history and like 6-7 teams total have won at least one. That is pathetic lmaoooo

and lets not even get started on all the other pointless leagues

Now Messi on Psg? Christ so finally he plays without a super stacked team and hes running from the grind

NBA franchises are all on big cities relatively. Most European teams are small town based, so you really cant implement or expect cap rules or anything like that, big city teams will always be much bigger than teams based in towns with 20k people. When you live in small town and have a team, fanbases goal is not the title or champions league, never has been and never will be, its just something you support and hope to do its best. Big reason why Premier league is most competitive is because like 10 teams are based in London, one of the greatests cities in the world.
European sports believe most towns and cities should have a team, even it it means it will not be competitive, where USA sports believe only metropolies can have a team. Whichever you prefer.

Europe is geographically small. It doesn't make sense for every village to have a team. A big city is usually no more than 1-2 hours by train or car from a small town.

I just can't wrap my head around cheering for a team that is guaranteed to lose because the system is designed to ensure they lose. You can easily allow for some semblance of parity even without a salary cap. MLB is a great example of this. MLB allows every team to have a farm system and guarantees 6 years of control for every player that a team discovers. That means when a small market team discovers a top tier talent, Barcelona or City or PSG can't just swoop in and buy that player for €200 million. They need to wait for that player to enter free agency. In the meantime, the small market gets to enjoy a competitive product for several years. But unfortunately, small market owners don't want that either because they like selling young players to richer teams and then pocketing the money. The system is rotten to its core.

In soccer people don't get discovered with 20+, they get discovered as kids and the most talented kids already play for the biggest clubs. Man City, Paris, Barca and co. have the best youth teams in the world. You can't lock kids up for 6 years, so the top teams will just go on a hunt for the most talented kids and sign them before you can legally lock them up for a team. Basically you made the sport even more unethical and uneven.

The only "solution" is a salary cap.

[Warren Mitchell]

Btw Messi is a better shooter than bum simmons

[Raps in 4]

NBA franchises are all on big cities relatively. Most European teams are small town based, so you really cant implement or expect cap rules or anything like that, big city teams will always be much bigger than teams based in towns with 20k people. When you live in small town and have a team, fanbases goal is not the title or champions league, never has been and never will be, its just something you support and hope to do its best. Big reason why Premier league is most competitive is because like 10 teams are based in London, one of the greatests cities in the world.
European sports believe most towns and cities should have a team, even it it means it will not be competitive, where USA sports believe only metropolies can have a team. Whichever you prefer.

Europe is geographically small. It doesn't make sense for every village to have a team. A big city is usually no more than 1-2 hours by train or car from a small town.

I just can't wrap my head around cheering for a team that is guaranteed to lose because the system is designed to ensure they lose. You can easily allow for some semblance of parity even without a salary cap. MLB is a great example of this. MLB allows every team to have a farm system and guarantees 6 years of control for every player that a team discovers. That means when a small market team discovers a top tier talent, Barcelona or City or PSG can't just swoop in and buy that player for €200 million. They need to wait for that player to enter free agency. In the meantime, the small market gets to enjoy a competitive product for several years. But unfortunately, small market owners don't want that either because they like selling young players to richer teams and then pocketing the money. The system is rotten to its core.

In soccer people don't get discovered with 20+, they get discovered as kids and the most talented kids already play for the biggest clubs. Man City, Paris, Barca and co. have the best youth teams in the world. You can't lock kids up for 6 years, so the top teams will just go on a hunt for the most talented kids and sign them before you can legally lock them up for a team. Basically you made the sport even more unethical and uneven.

The only "solution" is a salary cap.

I don't disagree. I'm just saying that even without a cap, there are ways to make the sport more competitive. Right now, there aren't any rules promoting competitive balance in European soccer whatsoever (FFP is a sick joke).

[TheHartBreakKid]

Look I'm all for competitive balance in any sport. Soccer could sure use it.

But we are also talking about 120 years of the system. We are talking about teams in the third/4th division in each country that have their own individual owners and fanbases and finances.

Imagine we are talking about the MLB. Now imagine it's across dozens of countries. Now imagine that the minor league teams were their own individual entity, not affiliated with a major league team. How do you put a salary cap or define financial fair play rules efficiently? It's just not something that could realistically happen over night.

I hate, hate to see Messi leave Barca. The truth is the Barca messed up. And Messi did his best to make it work and remain there. There are maybe 3-4 clubs in the whole world who could actually afford his wages, and he chose the best fit for himself. Personally, if he was to leave Barca, I wish he would have gone to the PL. As a soccer fan that would be very entertaining. But Messi was never going to go England. People also don't understand the cultural differences that are huge factors in soccer. England was never an option for Messi. So when you factor in that Barca messed up, there are three non-English team could have afforded him;
PSG- Where he has very close friends playing including Neymar and his international teammates like Di Maria
Juventus- He would never join CR7s team even if they could afford him
Real Madrid- He's a Barca legend who would never sign with Real.

PSG is the only place that made sense. I hate to see it happen, but I don't think you could blame Messi at all here.

[Hook_Em]

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[UcanUwill]

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El Classico is probably the most famous team rivalry to begin with, and Ronaldo was on Real for several years.

[TheHartBreakKid]

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El Classico is probably the most famous team rivalry to begin with, and Ronaldo was on Real for several years.

I wasn't around in the 80's, but I suppose Messi vs Ronaldo was what Magic vs Bird was. Two individuals who are in the GOAT conversation, both in their prime, playing against eachother for teams that are historical rivals. Of course, as good as Magic and Bird were, they aren't up there in the GOAT convo like how Ronaldo and Messi are. but I assume at the time they were right there.

So imagine the 80's Magic vs Bird rivalry, but in the 2010s and the age of the internet, and on a global level.

Really historic stuff. We were lucky to have seen it. The two of them won 10 Ballon D'ors in a row. 10! (and 11 out of 12, soon to be 12 out of 13) . Their teams also won 8 out of the 12 championship leagues during that time span. I understand soccer isn't for everyone, but again, I like to make these comparisons because I think any NBA fan would appreciate it.

[Cactus Jack]

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El Classico is probably the most famous team rivalry to begin with, and Ronaldo was on Real for several years.

It's pretty clear he doesn't have any knowledge of the sport. Should have kept his mouth shut. But that's a challenge for him.

[Tukkerwolf]

These players are so anti competitive, playing with each other against each other. Europe club soccer is going down the wrong path

European soccer continues to be a joke. 3 top-5 players on the same team, while the rest of the league is basically a minor league. Not that he wasn't on similarly stacked teams in Barcelona before too, but at least La Liga had another 1-2 stacked teams to compete with him (the rest of every league beyond the 1-5 richest teams is always a minor league). This is why I can't support this garbage. We complain about super teams in in the NBA, but the NBA is a competitive utopia compared to the dumpster fire that is European soccer.

LOL how does anyone watch soccer? Such an illusion of competition

You have a couple underdog champs rarely but unless you were a Barcelona or Real fan your team wasnt winning **** or even had a chance. I think those 2 have won like 30 of the last 35 La Liga championships and 70% of its history. 90 La Liga titles in history and like 6-7 teams total have won at least one. That is pathetic lmaoooo

and lets not even get started on all the other pointless leagues

Now Messi on Psg? Christ so finally he plays without a super stacked team and hes running from the grind

NBA franchises are all on big cities relatively. Most European teams are small town based, so you really cant implement or expect cap rules or anything like that, big city teams will always be much bigger than teams based in towns with 20k people. When you live in small town and have a team, fanbases goal is not the title or champions league, never has been and never will be, its just something you support and hope to do its best. Big reason why Premier league is most competitive is because like 10 teams are based in London, one of the greatests cities in the world.
European sports believe most towns and cities should have a team, even it it means it will not be competitive, where USA sports believe only metropolies can have a team. Whichever you prefer.

Europe is geographically small. It doesn't make sense for every village to have a team. A big city is usually no more than 1-2 hours by train or car from a small town.

For Europeans it does make sense for several reasons; first and most importantly because people like to support their locals, but also because rivalries between towns and cities are sometimes centuries old and third because supporting your team by bike or walking to stadium and then have a after-match drink at your local pub is preferred over hours of driving and not drinking.

I just can't wrap my head around cheering for a team that is guaranteed to lose because the system is designed to ensure they lose.

Because the culture is so different. The US is championship or bust, in Europe you support your local team nomatter how they are doing. Because of the inherent system of the closed US leagues it might be difficult to imagine, but for a lot of European fans not relegating can be just as exhilarating as winning a title. Or winning a title in the 6th level.

Differences between the US and Europe aren't always as big as media like to portray, but the difference in experiencing sports is one that can't be overstated.

[Raps in 4]

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Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry isn't even close to the best sports rivalry. Djokovic-Federer-Nadal is unmatched. 3 GOATs going at it 1v1. No stacked billion euro team supporting them.

[wfiles]

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Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry isn't even close to the best sports rivalry. Djokovic-Federer-Nadal is unmatched. 3 GOATs going at it 1v1. No stacked billion euro team supporting them.

There is no Djokovic-Federer-Nadal rivalry. Djokovic is the GOAT and owns both Nadal and Federer. Nadal owns Federer.

[step]

Despite having reached an agreement with Messi and with both parties clearly wanting to sign a new contract, it cannot be finalised due to financial and structural problems [rules relating to the Spanish league].

"Given this situation, Messi will not continue his relationship with Barcelona. Both parties lament deeply that the desires of the player and the club cannot be met.

I don't know... it feels a bit of a cop-out. You have Messi wanting to 'stay' finally, even offers to cut his pay to 50%, and the 'league' wouldn't approve it? He generates like over 200M in revenue for Barca and you're telling me the team won't even put up a fight. That is BS.

[Merc_Porto]

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[Cactus Jack]

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[Pharmcat]

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Lol this getting absurd.

[Pharmcat]

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Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry isn't even close to the best sports rivalry. Djokovic-Federer-Nadal is unmatched. 3 GOATs going at it 1v1. No stacked billion euro team supporting them.

Europe club Soccer has multiple trophies yet not one championship, right? I think that’s what Shannon was getting at

[Cactus Jack]

Europe club Soccer has multiple trophies yet not one championship, right? I think that’s what Shannon was getting at

Champions League (European Cup) is the big prize. The Biggest club tournament in Soccer.

Messi has won 4 Champions League titles with Barcelona. Ronaldo has won a total of 5 (Madrid/Manchester United).

Barcelona & Madrid have arguably the greatest rivalry in Europe. The two biggest clubs in Spain.

Shannon doesn't have a clue what he's talking about.

[Raps in 4]

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Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry isn't even close to the best sports rivalry. Djokovic-Federer-Nadal is unmatched. 3 GOATs going at it 1v1. No stacked billion euro team supporting them.

Europe club Soccer has multiple trophies yet not one championship, right? I think that’s what Shannon was getting at

Champions League is essentially the playoffs/championship.

[Cactus Jack]

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