Player Review

This sounds corny but I don't know how to express my thoughts on this card. I'm obviously not a top tier player but I can hold my own in weekend league and rivals. There's a lot of different reasons to play FIFA: you may want to win, you may want to have fun, you may just want to build a team composed of your favorite players, or you may want to just have something to do while you're stuck at home. In any case, this Messi card is your go too for anything. He will help you win, you will have loads of fun, he should (obviously) be one of your favorite players, and he'll definitely give you something to do. I have used him in 3 weekend leagues and a handful of Rivals matches and Squad battles.

After a horrendous heart break in the last stretch of my final match, Messi pretty much carried me to the closest I can get to an elite position in the weekend league. I've learned to play an unconventional way without spamming skill moves (both my strikers are 3* skills) or through balls so I really on lots of 1-2s and my strikers opening up to make space for those coming in from behind. I had previously played with regular 93 Messi at the CAM position and he worked for me but the difference of this upgraded card is comparable to night and day. Apart from being able to start him in a central position with full chemistry, he is always at the right place and he makes my team play so smoothly. I don't know how close you can get to perfect passing but Messi in my opinion is as close as it gets. My favorite thing about this card is that with the right instructions, it almost plays like Messi in real life. I know this might sound crazy, but he doesn't run or fight for every ball, he can easily get past 3-4 players with his graceful dribbling, his control is impeccable, and he always guided my team forward through those difficult games where I probably shouldn't have won. It felt so realistic to me that while playing I thought, hmm I wonder what Ray Hudson would have said about that goal.

There is something very strange with the card too- for some reason it seams like he makes other players mess up. Like Varane or any other defender will be following him and they just fall or slow down or turn the wrong way. It is super strange but instances like these would happen almost every game against almost any player. I can only imagine how my opponents would feel when their stay back Kante's were miles away from Messi or they would make the most absurd challenges. GK's also fall victim to this effect. The Pope's would dive late, the Courtouis' wouldn't jump, the Schmeichel's wouldn't save 1V1s, it was truly weird to see. RB dribbling with Messi keeps the ball glued to his feet even when 2 or 3 opponents are around him. He isn't the tallest but he still wins headers against CBs every once in a while. A noteworthy point are his freekicks- almost all of his freekicks go on target (power obviously plays a role) and he scores so many of them (again, sometimes GKs make the dumbest mistakes here) regardless if your opponent puts someone on first post (just move the target right beside them). I've scored a decent number of 30+ yard kicks that gave me the edge in close games. In any case, this card will hopefully get me into elite, and it there's a good chance it can get you to the next level too.