WHY MESSI IS NUMBER ONE
Following Lionel Messi’s five goals for Barcelona against Bayern Leverkusen and Pep Guardiola’s claim that “Messi’s the best.’ a furious debate has sparked over whether or not Messi is indeed the best in the world. Now the Castrol EDGE Rankings confirm that the little Argentine is in fact currently the best footballer on the plant.
Messi (1st) continues to dominate the Castrol EDGE Rankings ahead of his rival attackers. This season, Messi has scored an incredible 40 goals in 31 La Liga and Champions League appearances at an average of a goal every 68 minutes. This is considerably better than Cristiano Ronaldo (6th), who has scored 34 goals in 30 games at an average of a goal every 78 minutes. Messi also has 13 assists to his name – four more than Ronaldo and Karim Benzema (3rd) and five more than Robin van Persie (4th).
While Messi is generally considered peerless, Mario Gomez (2nd) remains the only player to rival him in the scoring department, with his 24 goals coming with a 69.5% shooting accuracy (superior to Messi’s 68.7%) and a 29.3% chance conversion rate (only marginally behind Messi’s 29.9%). Aside from this and average minutes per shot (where he sits behind Cristiano Ronaldo), the Argentine genius outdoes his rivals in every department.
Top 6 players in Castrol EDGE Rankings – League/Champions League data 2011/12
In the Premier League, Edin Dzeko (5th) continues on his way up the Rankings. The Bosnian striker had his fair share of doubters after his first six months with Manchester City. However, he has kicked on this season and currently boasts a better minutes per goal ratio than Premier League top scorer Robin van Persie. Dzeko has found the net every 96 minutes in the league and Champions League this season, compared to 98 minutes for the Dutchman. However, van Persie is a more complete player, having delivered eight assists for his teammates this season as opposed to three for the Bosnian striker, despite Dzeko creating a chance every 39 minutes compared to van Persie’s 41.
MESSI DEBUTS NEW PRIME BLUE/ENERGY/WHITE ADIDAS ADIZERO MICOACH BOOTS
When Adidas launched the original AdiZero Lional Messi was handed his own colourway – Chameleon/ so as not to wear the ‘Brazilian’ colourway Yellow/Black colourway.
Now after having been given a bespoke pair of White/Gold/Black AdiZero MiCoach boots Messi quickly changed out of them after one game so as not to perfectly match Real Madrid’s White/Gold Adidas kit. Instead Messi wore the latest Leather AdiZero MiCoach colourway – Prime Blue/Energy/White – which matched his barcelaon kit perfectly.
The Gold/White boots were always going to be a once off and Messi himself tweeted about how inappropriate it would be for him to wear his White/Gold Adizeros against Real Madrid.
LEO MESSI BALLON D’OR ADIDAS ADIZERO MICOACH BOOTS
Having celebrated Leo Messi’s third consecutive Ballon d’Or Player of the Year award with short film, Adidas have now commissioned a stunning pair of Gold/White/Black F50 adiZero MiCoach football boots to mark the occasion.
The Argentina and Barcelona star has won La Liga title, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup with Barcelona over the past few months and added more personal accolades on Monday night at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Messi’s new ‘M’ shield logo features on the outstep with each of his Ballon D’or wins within each of the classic Adidas stripes. ‘World Player of the Year’ and ‘gracias a todos’ – ‘Thanks to All’ are inscribed on the insteps.
Messi is expected to wear these bespoke, once-off, boots this weeknd. The boots feature all the usually Leather AdiZero MiCoach technology but have a unique Gold/White/Black colourway.
ADIDAS CELEBRATE MESSI’S 3RD BALLON D’OR WIN
Following Lionel Messi’s 3rd consecutive win of the Ballon d’Or, Adidas have compiled a video of Messi, their main F50 AdiZero wearer, interacting, playing and growing up. The video is voiced over by the man himself and is all about him thanking the fans for everything he has achieved.
ADIDAS ADIZERO MESSI WARNING/BLACK/WHITE LEATHER
Anticipation and expectation is at fever pitch as we await the new Adidas AdiZero and AdiZero Prime’s official on-field debut in Europe. We have spotted them in the Asian Cup as well as on the feet of a few players across Europe in training. Well we can reveal that the face of the AdiZero, Lionel Messi, will wear the new boots this weekend as Barcelona take on Malaga.
Adidas will surely want Messi to be in the Prime version but that would be a surprise to us as it is well know that the recently crowned Ballon d’Or Player of the Year prefers to wear leather boots. We know for certain that Messi will be in the Warning/Black/White colourway but Adidas didn’t unveil a leather version of the Warning/Black/White colourway initially. That left us a little puzzled and we were even more confused when players kept popping up in leather Warning/Black/White AdiZeros.
Well we can officially reveal that Adidas will defiantly be releasing a leather version of the Warning/Black/White colourway. And we wouldn’t be surprised if these are what Leo turns out in come the weekend. Be sure to check out our boot spot on Monday to see who switches over to the new AdiZero and AdiZero Prime!
ADIDAS ADIZERO MESSI METALLIC GOLD/BLACK/WHITE
After their dominating showing at the World Cup, it is no wonder Adidas have released a Golden pair of AdiZero boots and who better to give them to as an exclusive colourway than Lionel Messi? The diminutive Argentinean is widely regarded as the world’s best player. The World Cup saw Messi in the Chameleon colourway – which has now become available to all the pros. And what hot property they have become!
Now Messi will once again be in his own colourway. The Metallic Gold/Black/White will look great with his Barcelona kit. You can expect to see this new colourway on Messi in early September.
