Jorge Valdano Comments on Lionel Messi's Ability to Influence Games

Former Real Madrid player Jorge Valdano does not think that Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has the same ability to influence games as he once did.    

The 1986 Argentinian World Cup winner Valdano believes that the impact of his compatriot has become less significant and opposition players are less surprised by his movement in front of goal.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Talking to Radio Marca (h/t Sport), the 59-year-old also questioned Barca boss Luis Enrique's decision this season to play Messi in a slightly deeper position than previous years:

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[Messi's] lost that ability to surprise opponents in the final third. That was what helped Barça win so many matches. There have been very few times that I've seen a player change position from one season to another. Especially considering Messi carried so much weight in the Barça team not just as a player, but as a goal scorer.

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Valdano's comments come just days after Barcelona lost their first La Liga game of the season—and conceded their first goals—on Saturday as they were downed 3-1 by Real at the Bernabeu.

Messi was largely anonymous throughout the encounter as Madrid got themselves back to within just one point of their table-topping rivals.

While Messi won the Golden Ball at the summer's World Cup, many—including FIFA president Sepp Blatter, per B/R UK—have questioned the legitimacy of his claiming that award:

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Sepp Blatter: Lionel Messi didn’t deserve to win the World Cup’s Golden Ball http://t.co/fFWbTZ5FaV pic.twitter.com/YMP3m3Lxhy

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) October 28, 2014"

Indeed, he was reportedly exhausted at the end of the Brazil tournament, per Chris Cutmore of the Daily Mail, and often looked off-colour towards the end of last season's La Liga campaign.

However, barring Saturday's Bernabeu match, the 27-year-old Messi has still been performing at a very high level so far this season, scoring seven and assisting seven in nine La Liga games already in 2014-15, per WhoScored.com.

In La Liga last term he scored 28 and assisted 11 in 31 matches, per WhoScored, and thus—looking at the statistics—his deeper-lying role seems to actually be adding greater creativity to his game.

Having been playing at such a high level for so long, any dip in performance from Messi is going to be picked up on.

But while he wasn't at his best on Saturday—before which he reportedly had to have a pain-killing injection in his ankle, per Marca.com—his overall form this season has been consistently very good.

Messi will no doubt return to the top of his game this weekend against Celta de Vigo and prove Valdano and his detractors wrong.