Debunking a myth of Lionel Messi leading his respective nation to three consecutive tournament finals [THREAD]:

2014 World Cup: The Argentine may have scored four goals in three appearances. However, if you remove two of his goals against Iran & Bosnia, Argentina would’ve still qualified, and as group leaders meaning nothing would’ve changed for the eventual runners-up.

That’s how facile his Group was. During the knockout stages, when Argentina really needed goals, the Argentine managed to provide only one assist which was against Switzerland in extra time, and didn’t score any goals.

He was hardly close to adding any goals or assists. (He had no hand in the big chances Higuaín & Palacio miss, therefore it can’t be an excuse for him.

So the verdict is starting from the quarter finals against Belgium, he failed to make a positive impact & influence on his team matches during the 2014 WC in Brazil, meaning he was certainly bailed out by his teammates during the World Cup.

•2015 Copa America: It was even worse, Messi’s only goal came from the spot. All his three assists came in a match where the team scored 6. Even worse, none of those resulted in an easy scoring chance, as you can see below.

Again, the team still reached the final, and there, when they needed Messi more than ever, he was nowhere to be seen.

•2016 Copa America: Argentina would’ve got 9 out of 9 points without any contribution from Messi. They defeated eventual champions Chile without Messi playing a single minute, and were in comfortable lead when Leo was introduced to the second and third matches.

The teams they faced in KO stages weren’t much stronger. Sure, he scored 5 and assisted 4 in 4 matches, which is an impressive record.

However, they came against very, very week teams. The average FIFA ranking (At the time of the tournament) of the teams Messi faced outside Chile was 61.5 !

The teams Ronaldo faced in his “easy path” to the final of Euro 2016 had an average ranking of 24. For a third time, Argentina reached the time. For the third time, Messi disappeared (He had no hand in the big chance Higuain missed, so it can’t be an excuse for him).

Again, against Chile in 2016, Messi had another disappointing final where he failed to modify the match result as it should. The missed penalty only made matters worse.