08.04.2010 14:30
Messi better with Guardiola
David Saura
Since Pep Guardiola took over at Barça, Leo Messi’s goalscoring rate has shot up to an average of 0.81 goals per game.
Leo Messi will go to the Bernabéu as top scorer in the league (26 goals), the Champions League (8)
and tied with Wayne Rooney in the chase for the Golden Boot. The Argentine striker is breaking
records left, right and centre.
From Rijkaard to Guardiola
Messi is unstoppable, and this has been especially so since Pep
Guardiola became manager in the summer of 2008. In his 110 official Barça appearances until then,
he had scored 42 goals. That was 1 goal every 2.6 games.
Under Guardiola, he has scored 77 goals in 94 games, meaning a massive increase in
effectiveness, he’s now getting 1 goal every 1.2 games.
More of a protagonist
Under Frank Rijkaard, Messi was only starting out for Barça (especially
in the first season and a half) and was still only playing a subsidiary role to the likes of
Ronaldinho, Deco and Eto'o. But Guardiola has also shown that he knows how to make the most of his
Argentinian star, playing him in more attacking positions.
No change for Argentina
But Messi has not shown the same signs of improvement for his country, Argentina. In the
famous blue and white shirt, and up until 2008, he had scored 6 goals in 21 games (1 goal every 3.5
games), which is roughly the same as what he has achieved more recently (7 goals in 23 games, one
goal every 3.3 games). This clearly shows that no Argentinian manager has managed to get the same
out of Messi as Pep Guardiola has done at Barça.
Fifth visit to Santiago Bernabéu
Saturday will be Messi’s fifth trip to the Real Madrid stronghold, where he first appeared in
2005, and at the age of 18 was involved in the win spearheaded by Ronaldinho (0-3). His best
showing at the Santiago Bernabéu was last season (2-6), where he got two goals.
In all games with Real Madrid, Messi has scored 6 goals in 7 games, including his famous
hat-trick past Casillas in 2007 (3-3).