The day false 9 Messi emerged and DESTROYED Real Madrid

On May 2, 2009, Pep Guardiola made a tactical masterstroke that would become a defining moment in modern football. Facing Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, Guardiola deployed Lionel Messi in the "false 9" position for the first time. Instead of playing as a traditional striker, Messi was positioned deeper, allowing him to drop into midfield and exploit the spaces between Real Madrid's defense and midfield. This unexpected move created havoc for Real Madrid, as Messi's freedom to roam and link up play rendered their defensive plans ineffective.
Messi's new role was pivotal in Barcelona's stunning 6-2 victory. He scored twice and was involved in nearly every attacking move, showcasing his extraordinary vision, dribbling, and playmaking abilities. The "false 9" tactic not only maximized Messi's talents but also allowed other players like Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o to find more space and opportunities. This tactical innovation not only led to a historic win but also revolutionized football strategies worldwide, cementing Messi's place as one of the game's greatest and highlighting Guardiola's genius as a manager.

[@borderprash472]

Messi looks like he has 360 degrees camera. What an amazing awareness from him to sense the tackles and just change direction. Amazing player

[@SageofShadowdale]

25 years later, football manager are still unable to replicate this position on the field.

[@Slyyyy-lg5jo]

Klopp did it with firmino

[@AxTenTen]

​@@Slyyyy-lg5jo true

[@thewingedone1172]

Madrid just had an amazing season with bellingham false 9 most of the league. 2 losses whole season, both to Atletico in La Liga and Copa. Looked more like 4 4 2 diamond in UCL though.

[@SageofShadowdale]

I don't think you folks really understand what false nine is. Firmino played deep lying or presing forward. Belingem is everything but a striker. They played him on dm, cm, and am, but if I had to choose, I'd give him the box-to-box cm roll.

[@thewingedone1172]

@@SageofShadowdale did you actually watch bellinghams first half of a season, what is this fifa position talk? Yes he is very flexible in midfield but whenever Joselu wasnt on in La Liga, he played false 9.

[@yangerjamir0906]

That Real Madrid team in any other league would've been dominating the league. Pep's Barca was just something else. Once in a lifetime team...true dream team.

[@after_midnight9592]

This was only possible because of Messi magic. All other players were equal to Real. But Messi's genius tipped the scales and carried the whole team to another level.

[@mightytitan1719]

​@@after_midnight9592exactly that why he is the GOD OF THE GAME

[@diegoMaradona98]

​@@after_midnight9592 Eto'o, Iniesta, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Puyol???

[@5at5una]

@@diegoMaradona98 Raul, Higuain, CR7,Guti, Xavi, ramos, marcelo and pepe, and cassilas (kaka mostly inured).. but it is crazy line up too but the fact that barca is mostly la masia... its crazy on it self

[@diegoMaradona98]

@@5at5una the line up of that match. If you pick the best 11 of both teams. Casillas: Dani Alves, Canavarro, Puyol©️, Abidal (at that time): Yaya Toure, Xavi, Iniesta: Messi, Eto'o, Robben! 8 Barça players if you make the best 11 of both teams!

[@robert_weide]

those who say kroos or kdb or x/y/z has surpassed xavi, look at those passes in such tight spaces and close control, no one comes close, same goes with iniesta and messi is on whole new level

[@user-bi5nw4vp6t]

Xavi in el classico 6-2 was greater than every performance of Kroos, Modric. It was not close

[@dragoci2]

That's true, but It's the beauty of the game that every supporter has their favorite players, superstars and excellent athletes. Each person you mentioned is a great player.

[@Kiwi_Ladd]

​@@dragoci2I don't think I've ever seen such an understanding and peaceful comment online ahaha

[@Sarthak-bk6td]

The magic man with the world at his feet. Lionel Andres Messi

[@star_psycho.]

1:44 Dude, Messi looking for the ball even after a difficult collision with the GK😮

[@Samibeast8]

..... u cannot be serious. the difficult collision wouldve been on casillas.. he basically cushioned messi.

[@j.gamingtv9633]

I was also wondering

[@rex90782]

False 9 my ass. Messi was an alien. We just didn't know yet at the time. He would destroy Real Madrid in any position he was. As he did. Don't disrespect Messi by giving credits to Guardiola or sounding cool with these damn tactics or positions. With Messi is simple. You give him the ball. Doesn't matter where he is. In the midfield or near the goalkeeper. In his prime he would run all over the team and kill them. And he would make that look so simple. That's the goat for you. We were so lucky to watch him play.

[@sayantanmazumdar3]

Plays as false 9, scores 92 goals in a year, wins treble, repeats that in 2015. Truly illegal stuff.

[@rohitashwabarua8078]

Messi is so good, and thus so despicable for allowing simpletons into this game of football. Football now is NORMAL, how its supposed to be, yet CR7 and messi brought simpleton audience into this game. Looking for the future generations to numb this game down after these aliens retire fully

[@rawirihemi27]

It was both, the change was in game play and the best player in the world to try it with.

[@navjitbassi03]

Yess my fellow fanboy. Messi is our lord and savour! We would sacrifice our family just to smell his feet. How dare they make such a disrespectful video on him. Its blasphemy. Messi gets all the glory!! He won everything single handedly despite having mediocre team and management

[@MrGoodwinson]

1:56 that finish from Henry

[@buckbumble]

He’s done that hundreds of times and it is fool proof. Henry should be talked about as one of the true greats of all time.

[@SombreroFlicks]

@buckbumble the fact that he never won a Ballon d'Or really hurts his status in the eyes of those who didn't see him.

[@joakimwellbeck7875]

Sadly we can't see anything like this again. Pure joy to watch this kind of masterpiece

[@nxtvisuals]

Truly illegal stuff this. He should've been suspended after this performance. Playing against Prime Madrid is one thing, but the threat levels in 1 game are off the fucking charts.

[@ricardolombardini]

I agree with you, but jow can you call this team Prime Madrid? That makes no sense

[@nxtvisuals]

​@@ricardolombardini Tbh prime football days.Basically the whole Ronaldo vs Messi era. Whatever season Ronaldo played in, I call prime Madrid. I know prime Madrid was around the threepeat times.

[@Maxsss22]

@@ricardolombardiniany top team during that time = prime doesnt matter if sevilla valencia or anything, it was peak football

[@rogger972]

CR7 had a benzema ghost and bale pace merchant. FOOL😂😂. BARCA WAS better no matter prime real barca was better in evry position so basically the will win even messi play rw instead of false 9 . Iam a madrid fan but barca was always better . benzema winning ballondor even David villa was better player

[@jenni431]

@@nxtvisuals Despite doing a 3 peat they kept losing the league title to barca. So Real didn't dominate club football completely in any given calendar year. Whereas this Barca side did. Even as late as 2015.

[@dinodd88]

most world class players entire career highlights in a single game.

[@dreadhead240]

no

[@sayantanmazumdar3]

@@dreadhead240 Yes.

[@supercake2270]

No man ​@@sayantanmazumdar3

[@aliyusarume9178]

Messi is just too strong💪❤

[@aaagustin]

And here is why madrid fans cant stpo hating Messi...15 years later they still have nightmares with him

[@raygandarilla]

He destroyed this prime RM and New Era Prime RM lol

[@prashanthan_karvilelilpillil]

Pep guardiola creating a monster 😮‍💨💥

[@jesusislord4691]

Those who think football is all about scoring should know that just giving a successful pass isn't easy

[@siberianTiger639]

What is a successful pass? Just a pass that reaches a team mate, even if he's behind or next to you, withouth gaining advantage on the pitch? Or a pass that cuts through the lines, a pass that creates space or time for your team, stretches the opponent, creates an opportunity? Not every accurate pass is a successful pass in my eyes.

[@user-sc6vf4yc4g]

Missing those days ❤❤❤

[@harmez7]

01:53 this goal is almost identical to Messi's first goal at Barca assisted by Ronaldinho. also the celebration is the same.

[@morishogo144]

Yes

[@onifadeezekiel7366]

It's humiliating for real Madrid and heaven for Barcelona

[@robertocurrlos7470]

Looking at messi at his primw or young is devastatingly frightening. Soo good its unreal😊

[@murderface79]

The Xavi, Iniesta, Messi era was a pure tyranny.

[@z3dda]

Busquets too..

[@samsonabiodun773]

Tyranny of the majority

[@ericlin7775]

@@z3dda 🫣🫣🫣

[@dashuntas.m4045]

People that didn’t watch that Barca are the ones that put Kroos and Modrić on Xavi and Iniesta’s level

[@sayantanmazumdar3]

No wonder Spain won the world cup in 2010

[@Ramza1987]

This is exactly why i always said Messi should have been a mid-fielder play-maker. He has incredible dribbling skills and speed to start plays, seriously good passing skills and the most important fact about him, due to his fame he always attracted the whole attention of the opposing team, which meant others would be more likely free to make goals.

[@jewbacca7777]

I remember pep saying that Messi was the one player on the team that had the freedom to do basically whatever he wanted to do. He gave Messi ideas and suggestions ofcourse but at the end of the day he knew he was dealing with a once in a generation footballing genius and trying to restrict him too much would be foolish

[@ONEEN0]

É assim que Dorival tem que usar o Endrick! O moleque é forte, rápido e habilidoso. É desperdício ele ficar perdido entre os zagueiros adversários.

[@patrickorone1149]

your under a strong delusion to think that Endrick can put the performances messi put even at Endrick's age. Even without scoring u could see Messi was destined for greatness. Endrick has to score to be relevant in a game and he also needs Madrid PR

[@stadiumstarsprod]

Ventajas de tener a el mejor jugador de la historia

[@patriciamchunu4936]

Pep destroyed Real Madrid. Messi was just one of the vessels used along with Iniesta & Xavi.

[@havocx4953]

Perfect false 9 doesn't come naturally with just formation and 1-2 pass or tiki taka passing..it require high technical player to hold ball or dribbling before execute pass to compensate human response speed and distraction/feint movement of support player.Messi is perfect quality fulfilled.

[@MarcoBonechi]

Spalletti did it with Totti before.

[@weebofreak3338]

Messi the only true no 10 left

[@tudorpaunescu9166]

Pep guardiola realised one thing: messi was the best forward in the world at the time, but also the best midfielder. Made sense to ask him to play in between.

[@Kanol77]

I was just watching this year's EURO games and well, the way Barça played in the 2010s is just so much more fun to watch than today's football. Will there ever be such a team again?

[@SombreroFlicks]

International games are not always great since teams need time to form chemistry. Club teams like prime Barca were set up to perfection both in roster and strategy.

[@Kanol77]

@@SombreroFlicksAgreed but still, no team that plays - even remotely - so beautifully like prime Barca comes to mind.

[@brettervonkanada6102]

@@Kanol77 Manchester City on their best day maybe close, guess what they have in common...

[@gonzabio]

Hay jugadores que tienen compilados de su carrera entera con menos jugadas que este partido de Messi. Y no es que los demás sean malos. Este tipo está 10 escalones por encima del resto.

[@raaahul.kb7]

That's when As a team, but as a club throughout heaven and earth Madrid is incomparable 🔥

[@MESSIefb]

Miss Eto'o😢

[@videospage9916]

His playing with them ...... Or

[@UcArkmedia]

Messi is more like a midfielder

[@alipshamri8242]

bro makes cassilas looks like average goalkeeper

[@SombreroFlicks]

Casillas was definitely one of the biggest victims of the Messi Era.

[@danbasha001]

The whole game rely pn him.

[@LavernRazor]

I want to see dembele under pep

[@GunslingerAlGilead]

Me on FiFa playing against easy mode :)

[@AlexanderFaker]

Can someone explain false 9 to me? I’ve heard it a lot but I don’t get exactly what it is?

[@SombreroFlicks]

Plays between the opponent's defense and midfield lines. This serves several purposes; trick the opponents' lines, create uncertainty, exploit spaces, receive the ball to make plays etc. It's a position very demanding that requires a very skillfull and diverse footballer to execute well. And Messi executed it like art.

[@AloKotso]

This is unnecessary revamping, what granger gains from this is just the extra 4-6 more damage hits on his first skills per cast , he loses the 6th bullet critical on his basic attack and the last bullet of his first skill , he also loses the enhanced basic damage after using secind skill ,plus the hp% damage on his ult

[@Boom85Boom]

Are these season highlights? No way that happened in one game

[@supremoura6501]

What was real Madrid players playing 😂

[@rockgamiasedes677]

bruh !! You can make the individual clips even shorter. 2 second in each clip is still a lot and I can almost enjoy the football. Now we can't have that can we?

[@sayedurrahman9424]

It could have been 10-2

[@hikmahuddinhasbullah3928]

Messi is the cheat code

[@paullooper558]

How on earth pendu fans compared Ropendo with Messi??

[@simonkyle2009]

Sickening

[@Loreny_Storage]

Pendu can't even score penalty now..

[@MrDannyWright]

​@@Loreny_Storagenow that's ironic.

[@user-rz9yg1lt9e]

@@MrDannyWrightI mean Messi was injured and went for a very cheeky difficult type of penalty.

[@MrDannyWright]

@@user-rz9yg1lt9e still missed.

[@robbiepeterh]

It’s utter nonsense to suggest the fake 9 started in 2009. The arrogance of these people never ceases to amaze me but the truth is forwards have been dropping into this position with two players out wide for as long as I can remember and I’ve been watching football since the 80s. It is true, however, that Messi is the best ever in this position.

[@CoRimVic]

Give Yamine L. To Pep and go and sleep

[@jjs5730]

Pep dis kot create false 9 the dutch team in the 70s did

[@Alpha_Xero]

What does false 9 mean?

[@SombreroFlicks]

It's a role on the field during which the player moves freely between the opponent's defense and midfield lines . This was the first game that it was used as we know it today, with Guardiola giving Messi the complicated responsibility. As a result, the Real Madrid defense was severely confused as they didn't know whether or not to follow Messi, as following him towards the midfield would break their defensive structure. The result was Barcelona thrashing Real Madrid 2-6 in Madrid.

[@AmaraEmerson]

@@SombreroFlicks The false 9 is much, much older than Messi's Barcelona. In the modern era, Totti was effectively a false 9 for Roma.

[@aymenkahlia8504]

@@AmaraEmerson totti's role in roma not false 9, it's shadow striker or second striker and AMF

[@SombreroFlicks]

@@AmaraEmerson Very true. But Messi's false 9 was so effective that led to 14 trophies in 4 years, thus redefining how destructive the position can be under the right players and manager. The position can be traced back to the great Matthias Sindelar from the 1930s, that's why I said "as we know it today".

[@AmaraEmerson]

@@aymenkahlia8504 there’s a lot overlap. He wasn’t a second striker, the position was known in Italian as trequartista which directly translates into 3/4ths. It’s effectively what we know as the false 9 since his role was deeper than a conventional striker and that’s exactly what Messi did as the same position. The difference comes from the rest of the team.

[@glasgowgrad6277]

Bullshit. The false 9 started with Rinus Michels using Johann Cruyff in 1974 against Real Madrid. The score was 5-0 Barcelona. Pep got his ideas from Cruyff and Rinus Michels.

[@SombreroFlicks]

Pep got it from Cruyff who played under Michels indeed. But the first form of false 9 traces back to 1930s, with Matthias Sindelar.

[@devarmont87]

Bullshit The false 9 is just a position. Any player can be in any position. Even the goalie Cana come out for a corner. False goalie?? What ever. It's just Messi with the ball on the field THATS ALL. This stupid idea that its a "false 9" is just stupid people giving into circle jerk internet ideology.

[@robert_weide]

you know what is bullshit, that you think pep watched clips of a 1974 game, or 1930 game, its all in books, we can't even confirm if it was a false 9, even if it is false 9, its not like you can just replicate it, no manager can, that's why no one is able to replicate what pep's barca did, it is not that easy and @devarmont87 do you know, if it is just a position why coach and managers exist, manager can just give you formation on phone and leave, it is not that simple.

[@endthisnonsense7202]

Let's say he got ideas from Cruyff. Which is widely acknowledged even by himself. As for Michels, he too got his ideas from Cruyff, even including "total football" which was invented by Cruyff during a match at Ajax when things didn't work out and he changed things on the field. It was Michels' that liked what Cruyff had done and said "we can do this more often" and that was Michels' entire contribution to football.

[@chikavugla]

And then Bayern came and presented absolute Barcelona humiliation together with false 9 dwarf. XD

[@Ilfenomeno-sp2hk]

Did Messi ever do anything without Barcelona? Didn’t think so

[@deeznut9686]

Have you watch world cup?

[@nanuj6123]

Messi's international treble while being best player in all of them: Remind me when ronaldo gets a international pott😴

[@masqooralam3797]

Much ado about nothing, at last Real Madrid legacy shines the brightest 😂🤍 Even in today's generation poor pep can't able to stop madrid ,,, feeling pity for the bald guy.

[@GhostZeus-g3b]

But he is giving them nightmares till this day

[@anushithk6147]

Lol madrid against city 8 player's were in box 2 outside 😂 just had 7 shots in tht only 4 were on target....while city has 33 shorts 14 on target lunin saved Madrid tht day and penalties are based on luck

[@robert_weide]

real madrid is legact of dictator(more like dick taker)

[@ShrewdGamer]

Dude Pep Said Messi made him great. It was Messi and Pep together who was nightmare for RM. he once said great players help manager become great now pep dont have anyone like Messi anymore.

[@user-bi5nw4vp6t]

​@@ShrewdGamerIt was Xavi ,Messi and others with Pep . Xavi.prime ended the Barca declined then later Suarez Neymar joined.

[@BullishBitcoinBanter_Bullshit]

Pep literally put his number 10 in the number 10 role but called it a "false 9" and people believed think he's a god. Been gifted the best team in every league he's ever managed. Fraudiola

[@SombreroFlicks]

The false 9 role requires an extremely technical and versatile player. Pep was the first to see that Messi could be lethal if deployed in that position. And he was absolutely right.

[@BullishBitcoinBanter_Bullshit]

@@SombreroFlicks so he moved messi from the wing to the number 10 behind the striker, yeah that wasn't anything new bro. This false 9 is bants