So in the big games Messi is up against better players who man mark and double mark him, hence him scoring at half his usual rate.
But when Ronaldo's in these games you're saying that these better opposition players don't bother to mark him because he's going to score anyway?
You're inadvertently giving Ronaldo a massive compliment! ("Why bother marking Ronaldo, he's so good he'll score anyway! But we can mark Messi out of the game")
Come on mate, you're getting silly now.
http://www.redcafe.net/threads/insightful-interview-with-xavi-hernandez.435340/Despite being Red Cafe this is an excellent interview with Xavi.
Q: You talk about stimulating creativity. How do you do that?
A: With rondos! People still think that's just something we do for fun. No! It's an incredible exercise. You use both feet, you look towards the second line, you pass inside, you attract your opponent and then when he's close to you, pam!, you pass it to the other side... It's endless. It's an exercise that allows infinite implementations. For example: seven against two, five against two (in this case it's already harder to find an escape). Nine against two is more "fun". Or you can have a big rondo with three in the middle: two press and the other one covers potential passing lines so you have to find the space, think where you can find the ball... It forces you to look around you, find the free player. At Barca we understand football as a space-time concept. Who dominates that? Busquets, Messi, Iniesta: they're masters of space-time. They always know what to do when they're surrounded. Then you have midfielders like Casemiro who don't understand that. But at the same time, Busquets could never do the cover work that Casemiro does when the game is heads or tails.
Q: Heads or tails?
A: Yes: Madrid's team breaks in the middle, seven go forward and then Casemiro is left alone to cover all that space. That's what I mean by heads or tails. Busquets can't do that because even I'm faster than him. Casemiro is very fast. But he has difficulties with everything else because he hasn't worked on the other aspects. He has other characteristics, he's more defensive, recovers the ball more, covers more ground, makes runs into attack... But he doesn't dominate space time. If he had worked on that when he was 12, 13, 15 he would have developed it. Why can Kroos do it? Because in Germany they work on it. Why can Thiago do it? Because he was developed at Barca. The surprising thing is when you find someone like Cazorla that has that ability. I asked him: "How did you learn this?" "No, no, I was trained at Aviles and then at Oviedo and then I went to Recre..." There are natural talents. I ask myself: How didn't Barca sign him? He already knows the style. Silva, Kroos, Modric. How has Barca not signed them? They're players that obviously have the right profile. I keep looking for players that could go to Barca. Like Philipp Lahm. He saw everything!
Q: With Lahm and Alaba Guardiola started this trend of the full backs coming inside and ending up as a "mediapunta".
A: In the end it's associative football. Guardiola is always working to find where the free space is. For example, if you play against Levante and you see that their wingers mark your full backs, like Bielsa did basically, then you move your fullback inside. If the winger follows him then that clears the passing line from your center back to your winger. Because many times the fullback is in the way of that pass. If you move your fullback inside one of two things happen: either the opposition winger leaves him alone and that gives you a free man inside or he follows him and you've opened a passing lane to the winger. Space-time. For the opposition this is impossible to control, because you mark one and another one is left free. You create superiority.
Q: Barca's idea was the last one to transform football. What's the next paradigm going to be?
A: Talent always wins against physicality. The day that won't happen it's going to be shifty because the game will be boring. And because I think that talent always comes out on top, what we need to exploit is that: making the players understand why. Why must you stand there? Why do you have to come towards the ball in the right moment? Why is your teammate keeping the opposition central defenders in place so that you have space to receive the ball? Things don't just happen. Let's remember the 2-6. Why could Messi receive the ball alone between the lines? Because Henry and Eto'o were playing in the space between the central defender and the full back. And the central defender couldn't move up towards Leo because he was thinking that they would exploit the space behind his back. Gago and Lass were marking me and Iniesta and Leo was alone. This is how you get superiority. This is what Guardiola and his assistants analyzed so well. Luis Enrique too. You analyze where you can achieve these superiority, where you can play the passes...
Q: With City we're seeing something strange: they're beating record without a fixed striker and without normal midfielders. De Bruyne is a winger and Silva is a "mediapunta". How has Guardiola turned them into central midfielders?
A: De Bruyne and Silva have adapted to those positions because they're the type of player that knows how to profile himself to receive the ball in 360 degrees, they turn to every side, see the whole pitch. Because with Guardiola's style of play you need pure wingers, like Sane. Sane would find it difficult to play inside because ge couldn't do that small turn that give you space, the turn that Messi, Iniesta, Silva, De Bruyne or Giindogan have... Even Sterling has it if he's forced to do it. Sane doesn't. He needs space. Like Bale: if you play them inside they won't be as good. They have to play on the wing, dribble. Like Cristiano. He has more difficulty playing in the middle because he doesn't profile his body the right way. De Bruyne and Silva are spectacular. It seems as if we're just now discovering Silva
Q: How does Messi read games?
A: Tactically he understands everything. It's shameful to compare him to anyone. Messi dominates every aspect. Space, time, where his teammate is, where the opposition player is. Before he used to unbalance games with pure ability and strength. Now he dribbles you like a bastard: he lures you in. He sees that he has a marker on him and he knows that the guy is scared of him so he waits for another opponent to come and then when he has like a 3x1 he passes the ball. I saw this with LeBron James too. In the final between Cavaliers and Miami in 2014. LeBron isn't an individualistic player. When he had two players on him he would pass the ball to his teammate that was now free and could shoot. Iniesta and Messi do this too. They lure you in until a teammate is left open. If you don't go to press them they'll just play. We do this work since we're kids. Finding the space, finding the free teammate. Even Ter Stegen knows it. He trains for it. He plays the ball long and you say "he's thrown it away". But he hasn't. When Bayern came to the Camp Nou they were man marking us and left Ter Stegen along. And he would pass to Suarez and from there we'd have a 3 on 3.