Newcastle United striker, Papiss Cisse lauded his team mate Hatem Ben Arfa’s performance against West Bromwich Albion and went on to compare him with the Argentine maverick, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296.
Ben Arfa was instrumental in the Magpies win against West Bromwich Albion in a Premier League match on Sunday at the Hawthorns. The Frenchman scored a goal and picked up two assists during the game and was named the man of the match.
Cisse said, “He is a great player with a great range of skills. Sometimes with the ball at his feet, he is like Lionel Messi.”
He claimed that Ben Arfa possessed prodigious skills and the ball would simply stick to his feet, just like Messi. He pointed out that it is important to have a player of his calibre in the team.
"He is really good to play with. He played really well against West Brom and that is why we took the three points,” he assessed.
The player from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Senegal-c3001 also backed his Newcastle team mate to make it into the French squad for the upcoming Euro 2012 in summer.
“I am certain Hatem is capable of going to the Euros because he is really talented,” the forward continued.
"He is showing it every weekend. He did it at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 and again against West Brom. If I were in the coach’s place, I would take him.”
The 25 year old, who has been with Newcastle since August 2010, has featured in 22 matches for the Magpies in the current season and has scored 5 goals during this period.
Cisse then went on to express his desire to help his side qualify for the Champions League. He set his focus on the home game against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 and deemed it a must win fixture for the Magpies, in order to qualify for the elite European competition.
However, in order for the team to stay on top of Liverpool in the league, the likes of Ben Arfa and Cisse are going to have to produce some of their best performances in coming weeks, as they look to ensure their team’s participation in a European competition
for the coming season.
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