The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lionel Messi

  • Mauro Icardi gifts stepson incredible 10th birthday message

    It can often be difficult to decide what to get when buying presents for others, but that isn’t the case for Mauro Icardi.

    The Inter Milan striker’s stepson, Valentino, is celebrating his tenth birthday, and Icardi got him the perfect gift.

    Icardi managed to get some of the biggest names in football, including Barcelona star Lionel Messi and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo, to wish Valentino happy birthday.

    The messages are interspersed with clips of Valentino playing football.

    Icardi posted the video on Instagram, with a host of other players also taking part, including Paulo

    Dybala of Juventus and current Ballon d’Or holder Luka Modric of Real Madrid.

    Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain), Radja Nainggolan (Inter Milan), Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea) and Lisandro Lopez (Racing Club) also participated.

    Former players also sent messages to Valentino, including Samuel Eto’o, Javier Zanetti, Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso and Diego Milito, who all played for Inter.

    Also involved were some of Icardi’s Inter team-mates, Milan Skriniar, Keita Balde Diao, Matias Vecino, Danilo D’Ambrosio.

  • Messi shows love to sons, dog

    Lionel Messi has been sharing a cuddle with his dog Hulk and his kids Thiago and Mateo.

    The Barcelona star posted a photo on Instagram of his children piled on top of him while he gave his Dogue de Bordeaux a belly rub.

    Though both Thiago and Mateo seemed to be having fun, Messi did not appear to enjoy receiving a big lick from Hulk as he laid on the sofa.

    Messi have been in inspiring form, scoring his 400th goal last week in Barcelona’s most recent clash against Eibar in which he scored in a 3-0 victory.

    The 31-year-old has been in dazzling form this season, scoring 23 goals in 22 games in all competitions.

  • How Ronaldo dethroned Messi as Champions League king

     

    The argument over whether Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi or vice-versa has raged for over a decade, but there is a stage where one is the undisputed victor.

    In 2012, when Messi won his fourth-straight Ballon d’Or title, it seemed inevitable that the Barcelona star would finish his career far ahead of his arch-rival, who had just one Golden Ball to his name.

    But Ronaldo has since claimed four of the last five awards in the ensuing years to leave them tied on five apiece. His recent dominance of football’s most prestigious individual prize has been down to his success in the Champions League.

    The 33-year-old has finished as either the tournament’s top goalscorer or joint-top scorer in each of the last six campaigns and lifted the trophy with Real Madrid on four of those occasions.

    Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Ronaldo has hit a scarcely believable 83 goals in 76 games, a formidable strike-rate that has seen him become by far and away the tournament’s all-time top goalscorer.

    Before the start of 2011, when he broke double figures in the competition for the first time, it was Messi who shone brightest on that stage. The Argentine finishedtop scorer in the competition four years running between 2008 and 2012, coinciding with his run of four straight Ballon d’Or titles.

    By the end of that fourth year, Messi had 51 Champions League goals compared to Ronaldo’s 38, a healthy lead of 13.

    But the tide began to turn in 2012-13 when Ronaldo ended Messi’s run as both the Champions League top-scorer and Ballon d’Or winner. He scored 12 goals in Europe compared to Messi’s eight and won his second Golden Ball with 27.99 per cent of the votes.

    Ronaldo’s rise to becoming a Champions League specialist has coincided with both Messi and Barcelona struggling to assert themselves like before in Europe. They have failed to make it to the semi-finals in each of the last three seasons with Messi scoring 23 goals.

  • Messi relaxes with family

    Barcelona star, Lionel Messi sat out of the second consecutive international break to spend time with his family as he continues to deliberate his future with Argentina.

    The 31-year-old shared photos on Instagram with different members of his family as they relaxed in Spain during the break.

    There was a picture with wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, as well as another with his niece, Morena and cousin, Emanuel Biancucchi, accompanying the image with his niece and cousin in front of an empty goal, Messi wrote the caption: ‘The winning team’.

    His cousin, Biancucchi, is also a professional footballer, and currently plays for Melgar in Peru. Biancucchi, 30, started his career in Germany but has spent the major part of his career to date, playing across South America.

    The Argentine also posted a photo of the entire family at around the table ready to eat at a restaurant in Llivia, a province of Girona, Catalonia.

    Argentina navigated their way past Iraq without Messi as they won 4-0 on Thursday, but they faced a much sterner test against Brazil on Tuesday without the man who captained the country at the World Cup.

    Messi has come in for a lot of criticisms within his home country for their poor performances of late, least of all from legend Diego Maradona who recently launched an astonishing attack on the Barcelona player.

  • Messi eats at his own table- Alba

    Lionel Messi’s mesmeric display in Barcelona’s 4-2 Champions League win over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, proved yet again, that he is a class above the world’s other top players, team mate Jordi Alba, has said.

    Messi ran amok at Wembley Stadium, slicing Spurs apart with incisive passes from deep, such as the one that allowed Philippe Coutinho to open the scoring.

    He was as dangerous as ever in front of goal, firing in the Catalan side’s final two goals to end their winless run of three games.

    “Messi eats at his own table; he plays on another level to the rest.

    “When Leo goes on a run, all the rest of us can do is grit our teeth. He is the best in the world and he makes all of us a little bit better,” Barca defender Alba told reporters.

    Messi was a surprise absentee from the three nominees at FIFA’s The Best awards ceremony last week in London, where Real Madrid’s Luka Modric was crowned Player of the Year ahead of Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo.

    “For me `The Best’ is a lie,” said Alba.

    Rakitic, the scorer of Barca’s second goal, said Messi was one of a kind.

    Read Also: 2018 FIFA Best Award: Modric wins to end Ronaldo, Messi dominance

    “With respect to the other players, Messi is unique. Sometimes a player has a great season like Modric did, but we all know Messi is different,” he added.

    Wembley is a happy hunting ground for Barcelona, who won their first European Cup there in 1992.

    They also beat Manchester United 3-1 at the venue in the Champions League final in 2011.

    “If we played like this every day then we’d win every competition every year.

    “If we do things in the right way and work as a team, it’s very difficult to beat us. If we all fight for the same objective the results will come,” said Alba

    The victory keeps Barca joint top of Champions’ League Group B with Inter Milan, who they play next, and saw them snap a run of four Champions League away games without a win.

    “There are some games you look forward to a lot and this was one of those and we’re very happy with how the players responded,” added Coach Ernesto Valverde, who had faced heavy criticism in the media in the build up to the game.

    “I hope the fans are too,” he said.

  • Defeats not for discussion for Messi and son

    it may not be the best of times for Argentina international and Barcelona forward, Lionel Messi, not with the five time Ballon d’ Or winner being shunned left right and centre in several awards after the World cup in Russia.  But he is taking it maturely and even his five year old son Thiago is adopting and learning very fast.

    Lionel Messi has taken a back seat from international duty for now as Argentina prepare for two friendlies in the United States against Guatemala and Colombia.  According to the Messi his Thiago understands that when Barcelona loses or better put when daddy loses, then there is nothing to talk about, it has to be handled maturely by allowing a quitemood to gradually heal the wound.

    Still busy away from the pitch as he spent the day greeting fans at an Adidas event

    Messi looked calm and relaxed during the event which comes shortly after an interview where he revealed he still struggles to deal with defeat.

    Speaking on Radio Catalunya’s Tot Costa programme, Messi confirmed that with his eldest son Thiago, five, getting more involved with football he has had to take a new mental approach

    Messi also admitted that Thiago is getting to grips with knowing that there are some things that should not be discussed following a defeat.

    ‘Since Thiago’s birth I try to take defeats in a different way. But it’s difficult. I suffer a lot and I find it hard to pick myself up again,’ Messi said

    ‘It takes me a few days. And Thiago understands it. He has started to really like football and he follows Argentina and Barcelona and after a big defeat he doesn’t talk about it.

    ‘He knows it’s best not to talk about it but sometimes he lets something drop and then he says: “ah I know we aren’t talking about that”.’

    Although Messi is not part of Argentina’s squad, he has not confirmed an international retirement.

    However, the 31-year-old has admitted to opening up about retirement from the game stating he has shared the discussion with team-mates of a similar age.

    ‘I don’t know what will happen after I have retired. When the time comes I’m sure something will appear at the time. We talk about it sometimes with players who have a similar age.’

  • Barcelona fan sheds tears of joy for Messi

    A young Barcelona fan was left in tears as he finally got the chance to meet his idol, Lionel Messi.

    The club posted a video of the Argentine superstar stopping to pose for photos with fans at the airport following Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Real Valladolid.

    And one supporter was unable to contain his excitement, bursting in to tears as Messi approached him and signed his shirt.

    The youngster looked overwhelmed as he watched his fellow fans receive their autographs before getting one of his own.

    Barcelona’s talisman acknowledged the show of support, rubbing the child’s head before moving on to greet the rest of the club’s loyal followers.

    The Catalan outfit have made a solid start to the season with Saturday’s victory making it two wins in two in La Liga.

    Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal as the reigning La Liga champions survived a late VAR scare to claim a hard-fought win at the  Estadio Jose Zorrilla

    Dembele struck just before the hour after spurning several chances but the hosts would not lie down and almost snatched a last-gasp point.

    Keko thought he had equalised in added time but his header was eventually ruled out for offside after intervention by the video assistant referee.

    The child looked overwhelmed after meeting his idol following Barcelona’s La Liga victory.

    Messi who failed in his desire to lead Argentina beyond the group of 16 in Russia, has regained his super form for his club as they eye addition to their 25 league titles already in the kitty.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Anti Messi campaign: FIFA hammers Palestinian FA boss

    The president of the Palestinian Football Association has been hit with a year-long ban for inciting hatred and violence against Argentina and Barcelona icon Lionel Messi.

    The action comes after Jibril Rajoub called on football fans to burn pictures of the footballer if he decided to participate in a friendly against Israel in Jerusalem earlier this year.

    The match between Argentina and Israel was eventually canceled despite an appeal by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to his Argentinian counterpart Mauricio Marcri to have the game go ahead as planned.

    Rajoub’s plea caught FIFA’s attention, and he was fined $20,000 in addition to the year-long ban from attending any football matches. It added that he will “not be able to attend football matches or competitions in any official capacity, which includes, among others, participating in media activities at stadiums or in their vicinity on matchdays.”

    “These statements were made ahead of a friendly match scheduled for 9 June 2018 in Jerusalem between Israel and Argentina,” the FIFA statement continued.

    “The match was later canceled. The Disciplinary Committee held that Mr Rajoub’s statements incited hatred and violence, and consequently imposed the above-mentioned sanctions.”

    Ofer Eini, the head of Israeli football, described Rajoub’s comments as “physical and brutal threats that crossed every red line.”

    Rajoub has previously had run-ins with FIFA and the Israeli FA, calling for nations who engage in human rights violations to be “punished by suspension or expulsion,” though he didn’t mention Israel by name.

     

  • Messi succeeds Iniesta, named new FC Barcelona captain

    FC Barcelona on Friday named Argentina’s Lionel Messi the club’s captain, following the departure of long-serving midfielder Andres Iniesta.

    Defenders Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto were also named new vice-captains in a statement by the La Liga champions.

    Messi, Barca’s all-time top goalscorer, has been a vice-captain since 2015.

    The Argentina captain takes the club’s armband from Iniesta, who succeeded Xavi Hernandez as captain in 2015 but left for Japanese club Vissel Kobe in June.

    Midfielder Sergio Busquets was named first vice-captain, followed by Pique, who has been at FC Barcelona since 2008.

    Read Also: Messi trains with dog ahead of new season

    It’s the first time Pique has been named a vice-captain at the club.

    Academy graduate Roberto took the final position, vacated by Javier Mascherano who left earlier this year for Chinese outfit Hebei China Fortune.

    Roberto’s elevation is in spite of his only being a first team regular for three seasons.

    It is the first time since the 2014/2015 season that all the club’s four captains have come through the club’s famous La Masia youth academy.

    NAN

  • Messi trains with dog ahead of new season

    Lionel Messi has been trainning with his adorable dog in order not to lose grip of his fitness and football skills which he showed live on a football pitch in his home on Instagram.
    In a heart-warming video posted on Instagram by his wife Antonella Roccuzzo, Messi can be seen dribbling around his massive dog in the sun.
    And just like Messi’s opponents on the football pitch, the lovable dog – clearly enjoying the time out in the fresh air – couldn’t keep up with his owners quick feet in the garden.
    Messi is getting ready to join up with his Barcelona team-mates again, who are currently on their pre-season tour of the United States.
    The Catalan giants take on Roma and AC Milan in the International Champions Cup before facing Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup on August 12, which Messi should be available for.
    Barcelona then kick-off their La Liga campaign against Alaves at the Nou Camp on August 18.