The Special One he no longer is.

Glad that Madrid won't be winning their 10th CL title this seasons either.

Well he is, but the nickname he said was a joke. A joke that worked, obviously.

What's a joke?

Team has the most hated manager & footballer in modern history. Add on top all the European titles and I guess it gets like this.

When he said "The Special One".

Yep, jealousy is a sad thing.

Oh come on.

What? He said it was a joke, his assistant assistant said it was a joke. But I suppose everyone is lying.

I love that he pisses people off though. No matter what he's going to go down as one of the best ever now, it's great.

Mourinho may well be the most hated manager currently active, but Ronaldo? Madrid and Man U's fan base is not exactly small. Ronaldo isn't far from the most hated footballer if you insist, but I think Materazzi is more hated.

Nah, I would stick to both. I don't agree with it but in the current modern footballing market it's these 2... by some distance.

Yeah the guy who said it is the best person to believe when he afterwards says it was a joke...

That's the biggest shame, if he was not winning I would not care. Why couldn't it have been a respectable man that has done all these things instead?

Yeah I have to agree.

Well you had no trouble believing him when he said it.

What's so weird? So I can say anything I want as long as I make sure to say I was joking later... yeah that must surely mean I was indeed joking.

I saw him say it... and it did not seem to me like he was joking at all.

Was he joking when he said he's now the only one too?

That you pick and choose when you believe him and expect me to take you seriously.

I'm not expecting that, I was actually sure you never took me seriously!

But seriously, I don't know what you mean... do you either believe or not believe in everything somebody says? are you so strict about it? Nobody speak just lies or just truth. To me, Mourinho is an arrogant person so I can't believe he was merely joking when he said that...

edit: you can say I pick what makes him look bad but I can say you pick what makes him look good. That's not the case for either, it's just how we see it.

When they're talking about the same thing with no reason to lie, yes. He gains nothing either way. If anything calling himself The Special One did a lot for his team psychologically and himself in spotlight kind of way. Saying it was a joke later on actually works against him if anything.

I don't see it that way. I think he was trying to look less arrogant.

He said it was a joke while he was at Chelsea. So unless you think he's not been arrogant at all while in Italy or Spain that excuse doesn't really make much sense.

I don't get this.

Well, he said it was a joke while at Chelsea. You said he probably did it to make him look less arrogant. This suggests that you think he cares if people think he's arrogant. If this was the case, he wouldn't have then done acts of arrogance in Italy or Spain would he?

Fact is he doesn't care what people think. He's a winner and he knows it.

Come on now man... you can't limit to it to that... I could not know why he said it... I just know that he's too arrogant not to mean what he said in the first place.

Oh he cares a lot about what people think. He wants people to think of him in any way, positive or negative. That's why he's being a clown every day of his life.

As long as it keeps everyone talking about him.

Yeah he gets what he wants, kudos to him. He's still despicable and I hope a football hits him in the head and he forgets who he is and poor football gets rid of his loathsome personality.

Despicable? I think you're going a bit overboard. In a sport with cheats, criminals and incredibly dirty players who deserve that tag, you call a coach who's a bit arrogant the same thing?

I don't think he's only a bit arrogant and don't forget I believe he has intentionally ordered his players to take opponents out of the game... (del Horny, Pepe)

Well I don't believe that for a second. Unless you genuinly believe he prefers playing with 10 men?

I said get the opponent out of the game not themselves... you can do that and get away with a yellow... or if you're stupid you do what del Horno did.

I don't believe it, but fouls go punished as you say. What is far worse is the likes of Guardiola asking his players to dive. You get your opponents out of the game by cheating yourself, that's far worse than hurting your own team to possibly gain an advantage.

What if you do both? The arrogant one has always had divers in his teams too. Show me a coach that has not told his players to dive and I'll show you a liar.

Lots of them.

“A player who scores 90 goals in a year cannot be real. He is from the PlayStation. And when I see Messi he seems to play with the other players. He is faster, has more class and scores when he wants to.”

- Gattuso on Messi

When did Messi score 90 goals in a year? He scored 90 in 2012?

Um, yeah.

Usually when someone is talking about a "year" in football terms I automatically think a 'season'. So just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the link.

Even if you take the last season it's not that far. 73 goals in 60 games for Barca + about 10 goals for Argentina.

That really is great. But I think it's time he tested himself somewhere else. Italy would be nice, but I guess no one can afford him. I seriously doubt he could make such records in Italy. Defending in Serie A is still a couple notches above other top leagues.

He just renewed with Barça.

Could be nice (especially if that Italian team is Milan ). He won't get such high numbers over here, obviously, but still will be way above this league. But they won't let him leave anytime soon - at 25 y.o he's already Barca's top scorer ever with 301 goals in just 365 games and won everything several times, he's their gold mine.

But could he do it in Stoke on a cold, wet, Tuesday night?

He won't score as much, but still would be top scorer and best player in the league by far IMO.

If Ronaldo could do it, then Messi can.

Was actually said as a joke.

And he'd be 2nd best, behind Benteke.

By the way, talking about records, Raul should be worried about his european competitions top scorer record. Unless someone murders Messi soon, it's gonna fall in about 2 years.


3rd, don't forget Jordan Bowery.

Yep, definitely.


You're just taking the piss now.

Ronaldo's versatility gives him the edge in a league like EPL. just like Messi's distinct style of play gives him the edge in La Liga.

Both can rule in any league, I don't know why Ash found that LOL-able.

It's just the logic at times that gets me, and they say Ronaldo fans are arrogant

What logic? Messi has shown in every conceivable way that he is superior to Ronaldo. People just come up with the excuse that he plays for Barça and in La Liga as way of saying that he wouldn't rule in another league with a different squad. Obviously, since he's never going to leave Barça that gives them a boost of confidence in their statements, since they know they will never be proved wrong.

I don't really have any sympathy for Messi, honestly. I just find him an incredible player, but those people who compare him to someone like Ronaldo, who is great but not phenomenal, seriously irk the hell out of me.

When was the last time Messi scored at a tournement? Oohh that's right, he doesn't have Xaviesta behind him for Argentina! You'd think playing in a 2nd rate region where the only other good team doesn't even care that he'd find success. Guess not.


As shown by your inability to score in competitions for your 3rd World nation, right Leo? At least he knows it himself.

His record v EPL and Serie A teams is also not that great, which doesn't surprise me.

Exactly what I'm talking about!

Well, me, Ash and Messi all agree he wouldn't be the same outside this Barca team. You can disagree with us, oh well.

Yeah, as oppose to the people who just say well he would do as well as or better than a player who factually took another big-time league by storm, knowing that he won't really leave, thus boosting their confidence in their statements. That logic.