A popular belief in professional football is that playing in the EPL is the peak of any footballer’s career. Arguably the best league in the world, the English Premier League is no doubt the place to be. The glamour, the coverage and the media are to kill for. Only that some particular players take an exception to this belief, and would rather remain in their comfort zone in other top European leagues.
The switch to England has its own hurdles to jump. There is a new language to learn, a new weather to adapt to, and a new style of play to fit into if success is ever to be achieved. Some world beaters have failed upon arriving the very competitive league, while the daily struggle still continues for some other foreign players still plying their trade therein – a majority of whom had great potentials and showed lots of promises before arriving .
These examples, and shortcomings of a lot of great players who have tried their hands on the EPL football with little or no success in the past and at the moment have made many erroneously believe current and 5-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, won’t have it easy if he were ever to make a switch to the Premier League. A sole talking point for this set of football followers is the tough playing style, coupled with a high level of competitiveness the league offers.
Since starting out his professional career at Barcelona as a 17-year-old in 2004, the Argentine has taken the football world by storm, and a decade afterward, he is still terrorizing teams in Spain, all of Europe, South America and the world at large. With a ridiculous 317 goals in 354 La Liga appearances ( the highest return for a season being 50 goals in 37 Liga games in 2011-12) and 89 goals in 108 Champions League appearances, the doubters still feel Messi would have never achieved such numbers were he to be in the EPL.
But considering his record in the Champions League, it doesn’t look Messi would have (ever had) a hard time succeeding in England. Following his hat-trick (his 37th) against Manchester City on Wednesday night, Lionel Messi has now scored more Champions League goals against English clubs than he has against any sides from the other leagues.
16 – Lionel Messi has scored more Champions League goals against English clubs than he has against sides from any other nation. Sweet.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 19, 2016
In 15 games against EPL sides, the 29-year-old has bagged 16 goals and here is a breakdown. He has scored 2 goals in 4 games against Manchester United, 5 goals in 5 games against Manchester City, and 9 goals in 6 games against Arsenal. Chelsea and Liverpool are the only EPL teams Messi has played against without scoring, with the Blues particularly impressive in keeping him silent on 8 occasions until 2012.
If Messi will ever play for any other European side besides Barcelona doesn’t look very much likely for now, but if Manchester City ever manages to lure him to England, then he won’t have a problem putting EPL teams to the sword, even though he would be past his peak as a 30-something-year-old by then. No need for baseless arguments, the records speak for themselves.