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Tag: Messi

  • Messi better team player than Salah – Arsene Wenger

    Former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has described Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as a complete player who though constantly desires to score but recognises when to allow others do the finishing.

    Wenger who has been out of job since quitting Arsenal last year after 22 years at the Emirates, was reacting to misunderstanding between Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah after their 3-0 defeat of Burnley last weekend.

    Salah was involved in a spat with team-mate Sadio Mane in the Reds’ 3-0 win at Burnley, with the Senegal forward furious at his Egyptian team-mate for failing to pass the ball to him to apply a simple tap-in late on.

    Mane was substituted moments later and could not hide his anger over the incident on the touchline as he departed the field.

    Wenger while describing the two feuding players as great players nonetheless criticised Salah for being too selfish in attack.

    The former AS Monaco handler said though the Egypt international has the abilities of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, he unlike Messi, insists on doing the finishing at all times.

    ‘He [Salah] has similarities with Messi,’ Wenger told beIN Sports. ‘He must find the consistency of Messi.

    ‘I find he’s a good finisher but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well. ‘Salah is a bit obsessed with finishing himself.

    ‘That’s a dimension he’ll get certainly, when he grows a little bit older, to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish. ‘But I like him very much, he has huge potential. Mane as well,” he submitted

    Liverpool who have won all their premier league matches played so far in the new season will next host Newcastle in a tie they have been tipped to win to make it five wins in five matches.

  • Messi, Ronaldo, others nominated for FIFA Best Player Award

    The Fédération Internationale de Football Association on Wednesday officially announced the top ten players nominated for the 2019 ‘The Best Men’s Player Nominees’.
    The players which include, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frankie De Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane, Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe, Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk.
    According to FIFA, voting is now opened and the decision will be split between four key pillars of the beautiful game: the players, the coaches, the fans and the media.
    See Tweet Below:

  • We have to prepare for life without Messi – Barca president

    We have to prepare for life without Messi – Barca president

    FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu accepts that the club has to do what some may consider virtually unthinkable – prepare for life without Leo Messi.
    Messi has led the Barcelona side almost since making his first team debut as a 17-year-old and although there is no talk of him retiring in the near future, the fact is that he is now 32-years old and can’t go on forever.
    “We think it is our obligation to work on the post-Messi era,” admitted Bartomeu in an interview in Spain.
    “We are thinking about a post-Messi era because we are bringing in new players,” he said in reference to this summer’s signing of Antoine Griezmann and the arrival of Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele two years ago.
    Coutinho has struggled to find his best form at the Camp Nou, but after a difficult first year Dembele last season showed he can be an important player for Barcelona.
    “We have to think about this changing era when Messi will give up playing football but, as president, I hope that he is going to play with us for many more successful years” said the Barca President.
    Barca have just returned from a week-long trip to Japan and the coming week wil see them continue with preparations for next weekend’s traditional Joan Gamper friendly game against Arsenal.
  • COPA America: Ronaldo Could Win It Before Messi – Mourinho

    COPA America: Ronaldo Could Win It Before Messi – Mourinho

    Former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has mocked Lionel Messi, saying Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo could win the COPA America before him.
    Concise News learned that Messi had not won any senior international crown with Argentina and berated the organizers of the COPA America 2019 for favouring Brazil to win the competition.
    Argentina lost 2-0 to Brazil in the sem-final of the competition and Messi said, “I think there is no doubt. Unfortunately, I think it is prepared for Brazil [to win it].
    “I hope that the VAR and the referees have nothing to do and that Peru can compete because they have the team to win, but I see it difficult.”
    However, Mourinho has thrown a subtle jibe at the Barcelona star over his inability to win the title.
    According to him, if CONMEBOL(South America’s football ruling body) were to invite Portugal, Spain and France for the continental tournament, Ronaldo could win it before Messi.
    “If CONMEBOL wants to increase its audience and make the Copa America competitive, they should invite European teams: invite Spain, invite France, invite Portugal,” Mourinho added.
    “If they invite Portugal, Cristiano could win a Copa America before Messi.”

  • Messi fumes after Copa America defeat to Brazil

    Messi fumes after Copa America defeat to Brazil

    Lionel Messi accused Copa America officials of favouring hosts Brazil after Argentina’s hopes were ended in Belo Horizonte.
    Goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino handed the Selecao a place in Sunday’s final with a 2-0 win over their most bitter rivals in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
    Argentina had chances themselves, with Messi and Sergio Aguero both striking the woodwork, and were arguably the better side throughout the 90 minutes.
    However, it was the officials who drew the ire of Messi after the game with the Barcelona superstar scathing in his assessment of referee Roddy Zambrano and the Video Assistant Referee.
    Messi had approached the officiating team at full-time for a frank exchange of views.
    Messi was furious at a decision not to award Aguero a penalty after he appeared to be cleaned out when running through on goal shortly before Firmino doubled the hosts’ advantage.
    The challenge on Aguero wasn’t even looked at by VAR, something which – given the use of VAR at the tournament – left Messi enraged.
    He fumed: “They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty [to Aguero] they didn’t award,” Messi told reporters.
    “They [the officials] had called a lot of bulls**t, but they didn’t even check the VAR, that’s unbelievable.
    “That happened all over the game. At the first glance of contact, they ruled in their [Brazil’s] favour and this kind of bulls**t distracted us from the game.”

  • Messi relieved as Argentina see off Qatar for Copa America Q/finals

    Messi relieved as Argentina see off Qatar for Copa America Q/finals

    Lautaro Martinez and Sergio Aguero scored as Argentina cleared the Qatari obstacle to qualify for the Copa America quarter-finals.

    Argentina captained by Lionel Messi came second in Group B with four points, behind Colombia that lashed them 3-0 in the first game of the tournament.

    Colombia topped the group with nine points, winning all their three matches against Argentina, Paraguay and Qatar.

    Martinez scored in the 4th minute and Sergio Aguero’s late second gave Argentina a 2-0 win over Qatar.

    Already-qualified Colombia beat Paraguay 1-0 in the other Group B match to secure a place in the last eight for both Peru, who finished third in Group A, and Uruguay, currently second in Group C.

  • Messi bitter over Argentine loss at COPA America

    Messi bitter over Argentine loss at COPA America

    Captain Lionel Messi said his team was feeling bitter after Argentina lost their opening Copa America match 2-0 to Colombia despite dominating the second half.

    Goals from Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata in the final 20 minutes gave Colombia their first tournament victory over Argentina in 20 years as Messi’s hopes of finally landing a major international tournament after losing in four finals suffered a serious blow.

    “We leave here feeling bitter,” said Messi following the Group B clash in Salvador.

    “In the second half we had our chances.”

    One of the best of those fell to the 31-year-old Barcelona icon but he headed wide after Colombia’s goalkeeper David Ospina got down quickly to push out a header from center-back Nicolas Otamendi.

    Although Argentina dominated possession and created more chances in the second period, they rarely caused Ospina any serious concerns.

    “We didn’t want to start this way, obviously, but now we have to lift our heads and keep going,” said the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who lined up in an enviable forward trio with Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria of Paris Saint-Germain.

    “In the first half we retreated a little and were holding on, but in the second we really opened up,” said Messi, the Argentina captain.

    “Whenever you lose it’s hard for us, we usually take it badly. Now we have to think about Paraguay.”

    Argentina can still make the knock-out stages with games against Paraguay and guests Qatar, the Asian champions, to come.

    Midfielder Leandro Paredes, who forced a diving save out of Ospina with one long range strike and sent a second whistling past the post, was pleased with the second half performance.

    “We created a lot but unfortunately they scored in our best period,” he said.

    Colombia were the better side in a goalless first half but scored twice against the run of play in the second period, with both goals coming from substitutes.

    “I came on and helped my team. We did the best we could and we managed to turn the game around at the end of the second half. We played really well,” said Zapata, who this season helped Italians Atalanta qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history.

    Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, who only took over Colombia after leaving his job with Iran at the end of the January-February Asian Cup, paid tribute to the side’s collective effort.

    “Colombia as a team was the best player on the pitch. We played with a lot of discipline, concentration, with responsibility, and players with the quality of James (Rodriguez) and (Radamel) Falcao helped us a lot in this organization,” said Queiroz.

    And he praised his team for “controlling Messi a bit,” noting that “we’re always talking about him and you cannot neutralize him.”

    Both he and Argentina counterpart Lionel Scaloni agreed that each side had their moments during the game.

    “In some moments we were on top, then they were superior to us — that’s how football goes, there are different stages in matches,” said Scaloni.

    Colombia, though, are well placed to win the group now.

    “We’re still a long way from where we want to go,” warned Colombia’s playmaker James Rodriguez.

  • Messi seals another La Liga title for Barcelona

    Messi seals another La Liga title for Barcelona

    Lionel Messi fittingly sealed FC Barcelona’s 26th La Liga title on Saturday by coming off the bench to score the goal in a 1-0 win over Levante.

    A jubilant Nou Camp crowd responded by celebrating a remarkable eighth league crown in 11 years.

    Barca’s captain decided the game and the title in the 61st minute as he received a header from Arturo Vidal, effortlessly freeing himself from two defenders with his right foot.

    He then used his left foot to plant the ball into the far bottom corner.

    Cries of “champions” rang out from the 91,000 supporters crammed into the Nou Camp but Barca’s players dropped their concentration and Jose Luis Morales should have levelled for the visitors.

    But he blasted over the bar.

    Levante also hit the post in the final stages as Barca were left clinging on to their narrow advantage deep into stoppage-time.

    But relief came when they cleared a corner kick and the final whistle sounded.

    Barca lead the standings on 83 points after 35 games, an unassailable nine clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid with three matches left.

    That was because they have a superior head-to-head record with Atletico Madrid this season.

    Ernesto Valverde’s side have now taken the first step in their bid to win a third treble in a decade.

    They face Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and will play Valencia in the Copa del Rey final on May 25.

  • Barcelona disgrace Man United out of Champions League

    Argentina star Lionel Messi bagged a brace on Tuesday as Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3-0 in the quarter-final of the Champions League.

    The first leg of the encounter ended 0-1 in favour of the Spanish team with Philippe Coutinho adding the third goal to make it 4-0 on aggregate.

    In the other game of the day in the Champions League, Ajax shocked Juventus in Turin with a 2-1 win.

    Cristiano Ronaldo handed the Serie A champions the lead, before Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt finished a remarkable comeback for the Dutch side.

    They progressed with a 3-2 aggregate win over the Italian side.

  • La Liga: Messi scores hat-trick as Barca move 10 points clear

    Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick of the highest quality as Barcelona avenged their defeat by Real Betis earlier in the season to move 10 points clear at the top of La Liga.

    His first was a 20-yard free-kick before he converted Luis Suarez’s backheel pass with a toe-poked strike.

    The pick of the bunch was a clipped finish that went in off the bar.

    Suarez scored a fine individual effort while Loren Moron grabbed Betis’ only goal with a superb finish.

    Of Messi’s 33 hat-tricks in La Liga, this surely ranks as one of his finest.

    After a cagey first 18 minutes, the 31-year-old broke the deadlock when his superb free-kick found keeper Pau Lopez’s top-right corner.

    Barca and Messi then punished their hosts, who beat them 4-3 at the Nou Camp in November, with a lightning-quick move. Suarez found his forward partner with a backheeled through-ball, that beat three Betis players, which was then turned in by the Argentine.

    It was 3-0 after the break when Suarez, who missed two earlier chances, drove forward from 25 yards out before slotting past Lopez.