Top scorers Messi and Agüero to face off

Leo Messi shunned potential comparisons between himself and his fellow Argentinian, saying “he plays one way and I play another” but “both of us are on great form.” The two Argentinians have five goals apiece in the league so far as they go head to head on Sunday at the Camp Nou.

“The truth is he is hard to beat and very difficult to stop.”

The two strikers are actually close friends and looking forward to their meeting this weekend, about which they have spoken at length on the telephone.

Speaking of Atlético Madrid, Messi considers them to be “a very similar side to Barça. They play attacking football and have some great players up front.” Good form Messi may be enjoying a great run at the moment, but the Balon d’Or is far from his mind. “I’m only thinking about playing for the good of the team” he valiantly commented, going on to say that he has no intention of letting all the praise get to him. “It doesn’t affect me either for good or for bad” he said. “When I’m playing I forget about all that what is happening outside and just try to do my best.”

But just what is it that has made him such a great player? Messi coolly responded that “at first I had a few chances but didn’t have much luck with my shooting, and now I am getting much more luck.” Injuries and changes for the better Messi can’t see anything in particular that needs changing about this side. “It all starts with group work and one thing leads to another” he said. “It is important not to let them score too many goals and to score goals ourselves.” Neither does he feel the injury concerns are quite as bad as people are making out. “It’s just a question of bad runs, it’s pure science and there is no need to start blaming anybody.

All teams got through these things and now it is us, but I see no need to start making changes to our warm-up methods because we have always done the same thing and there haven’t always been as many injuries.”