The world likes to laugh at mean things. Especially if it is being said about larger-than-life celebrities. Which goes a long way in explaining Jimmy Kimmel's' “Celebrities read out Mean Tweets about themselves” gig.
FC Barcelona, though, do things differently. They are after all “mes que un club” - “more than a club”.
In collaboration with Audi – who make some of the best ads in the automotive world – they have released a video that celebrates the joy of people saying good things about the people they adore. Digging through the trolls on the twitter-vers (some task that), Barca found enough praise amongst the trolls to compile the video.
Lionel Messi is the star of the show, as he always is, but he is joined in the video by Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto and Arda Turan.
Gerard Pique gets called effective and he looks confused and says he'd rather be called fun and outgoing. It is a compliment Gerard! Especially for a defender – a breed who are rarely praised so effusively - it may, of course, be because the tweeter said he's just like Gangnam Style in that aspect. Eh?
Sergi Roberto is called versatile, and the tweet goes on to say he could possibly shoot three-pointers if he wanted to. Of course, he could. What a player that kid is!
Ivan Rakitic gets called down-to-earth and gets compared to a pair of slippers. A proper 'wth' moment that – but the Croat laughs it off and says he would rather be described as 'blond' or 'from Seville'. Okkkkaaaaaaay.
Arda Turan handles the compliments the best – His tweet read “No it isn't a replay, it's the Turkish Wizard slowing down the game”. Superb compliment, isn't it? The Turk certainly thought so and admitted he loves the name “Wizard Turan”. That's more like it! WHO WOULDN'T LIKE BEING CALLED A WIZARD (unless you were time-travelling and got stuck in the Salem witch trial or something)
It's Leo Messi, though, who gets the most effusive praise. When experts, coaches, peers and analysts gush at the mention of Messi how can we common folk desist?
He gets called an alien - a nod to his other-worldly talents, and God – an ode to his supreme powers on the field, but the Argentine superstar is not one for such flowery praise. Visibly embarrassed by the whole shebang, Messi's reaction is the cutest – he calls those who praise him 'crazy people' (in the very nicest sense of the word – sheath your swords, haters) who say 'incredible, unbelievable things'.
He admits he is embarrassed to read these tweets, and that in fact is making him sweat. Hah. Some guy did with 140 characters what a generation of defenders haven't been able to.
He ends the video saying he is the opposite of an alien and is in fact “completely normal”.
Yeah! Normal – sure, that's exactly what you are! We've seen you play Senor Messi. You can't fool us!!
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