FCBARCELONA.CAT

03.10.2008 14:06

Leo and Kun: magic and goals

Jaume Marcet

The Camp Nou will get the chance on Saturday to enjoy two of the most spectacular players in world football right now. The magic of Messi and Agüero’s amazing goalscoring talent are the main attractions of this weekends Barça v Atlético encounter.

Two small but great players. Small in terms of height, but enormous when it comes to talent for the game of football. We need look no further back than last Wednesday, when both scored crucial Champions League goals for their respective teams.

Two Argentinian talents

Leo Messi and Kun Agüero represent the very best of Argentine football. They base their game on intuition and creativity, are both terrific dribblers and both have a knack of scoring brilliant and decisive goals.

It’s the type of football spectators can really connect with, and not the kind of thing you witness every day. Every dribble, every fake, everything is designed to put pressure on defenders and goalkeepers. Messi is left-footed, but often plays on the right, while Kun usually slots into the hole just behind the centre forward and creates danger on the edge of the area.

Young stars

Both are still very young (Messi, 21; Agüero, 20), yet already have a wealth of experience at their feet. Leo made his first team debut aged just 16 in a Barça friendly against Porto, while Kun was just 15 when he appeared for Independiente for the first time in the Argentinian First Division. Ever since, both players have constantly improved and assumed more and more responsibilities. Messi has won two Leagues and one Champions League, while Kun’s major titles are currently limited to those he has won at international level for Argentina.

Great stats

In his first three seasons of professional football, Kun has scored 26 goals in 78 matches, an average of 0.3 goals per outing. In five seasons, Messi has scored 34 goals in 81 League matches, making an average of 0.4 goals a game. Both players have got off to even better starts this season. Messi has scored eight goals in fourteen games, while Atletico’s striker has been on target nine times in fifteen matches.