All this Messi hype is out of control. Ask yourselves this: what has he ever done against England? Exactly!

I quite agree. Bet he won't be feeling quite so inventive after JT stops him in his tracks with a subtle reducer at the World Cup.

All this hype and he only scored once at the weekend as well. Rubbish if you ask me.

True Arsenal had their full strength side out with no injuries to key players, particularly in defence and the Spanish league is blessed with teams (other than Barca) who regularly make it to the latter sounds of the Champion's league.
Messi is a fantastic player, but I don't think you will find all that many media outlets who disagree with that.

Rooney recently called Clarence Seedorf the best player he'd ever played against, so it's always worth considering that English league players don't necessarily read the game the same way English fans do.

Lincoln, Barca were without Iniesta, Pique, Puyol and Ibrahimovic. And if you could point out where I've said the Spanish League is better than the English, I'd be most grateful. You're sort of proving my point.

After you point out where I accused you of saying that Spain is better than England.

'and the Spanish league is blessed with teams (other than Barca) who regularly make it to the latter sounds of the Champion's league.'

The point of this comment is?

"or that he underperformed against English teams"

Brill!

I've heard people say as much, he scored the in the final against Manchester united for goodness sakes!

It's me being sarcastic, which you got with the Arsenal comment, that the Spanish teams do not get to the latter rounds suggesting that the Spanish league is possibly weaker and therefore it would be expected that Messi would score more. Firstly it was for the sake of argument but your pointed tone has entrenched my view somewhat. Messi is an undeniably good player and Barcelona a great team, but it is only really hit home when they do well in Europe. That it is currently against English teams where teams show there class is not the media or me being parochial, it is simply that the teams in the latter stages are mostly English. When people think of the great AC Milan side they tend to think of the great European nights when the destroyed teams in the finals. They do not think Van Basten was good because he scored quite a few goals in Serie A, even with the stronger defences he faced.

i'd rather watch stoke than that foriegn rubbish

As someone, along with many other actual football fans, who has watched Barcelona and Messi these past few years, could you please not lump us all together with the Daily Mail reading, Richard Keys following idiots who conform to these myths you talk of.

Enough with the straw man rubbish.

"The absence of any teams from "The Best League In The World" in the semi-finals of the Champions League this season has been greeted as a national disaster"

Where? By whom? Links please.

"When Manchester United were drawn with Bayern Munich in the last eight of the Champions League, and Bordeaux or Lyon in the semi-finals, it was glibly asserted they would breeze through."

Again, by whom, where?

I bet you can't come up with more than one or two examples to support these assertions. When I saw the last eight draw I did think the final would probably be Barca v Man U, but what kind of fool thinks there's any 'breezing' to be done through such class opposition? People are surprised there are no English clubs in the last four for the simple reason that we've gotten used to them being there, not because we assume they have some sort of right to be there.

fyi, many English fans, including this one, are delighted that the rich clubs who sit on the face of the English game have received some measure of comeuppance in Europe this year, so your gloating is misdirected in a general forum.

This article is flawed (in that it starts with one thrust and weaves in another) and designed to provoke comment. Close, but no cigar, judging by the meagre responses (worked for me though).

While the author has not overtly stated that 'the Premier league is not the best in the world', thereby being able to tell detractors 'you've missed the point', the implication is there.

For what it's worth: Yes, the best player (in his position) plays in Spain. The most successful team plays within the Spanish league. If Barca win the Champions league they will be the best team in Europe (if Champions league progression/winning is criteria). But if Milan win it, they will be the best, having also won it twice within five years, but featuring in an extra final, as losers in 2005.

But if Champions league dominance is the criteria for 'best league', the Premier league wins, hands down.

Over the preceding five seasons, the Premier league has contributed six finalists and two winners. Spain has featured Barca, twice, and both times they won. Italy has featured Milan twice, winning once.

The fact that three premier league teams have featured within that period as opposed to one from Italy and one from Catalonia suggests Sky's 'tub-thumping' in promoting the Premier league (which is their product, Rooney afterall is his own man) is actually reality. And I loathe Sky.

Sorry, I have been a bell3nd. Apologies for that last post. Clearly, Inter and Milan are not the same side. Goodbye.