Barcelona manager Xavi has declared he wants to see Lionel Messi re-signed.
Xavi insists the PSG attacker would improve his La Liga title winners.
He told Sport, “Right now there’s no doubt [Messi] would help us.
“Leo could play in various positions: false nine, winger, in midfield, or even as a no.10, arriving to play the final ball.
“He has become almost a central midfielder, almost an attacking midfielder, and he has that ability at the end of the day.
“At the World Cup we saw Messi at an unbelievable level.
“I think he has many years left in him, at a good level.”
Xavi also said: “For me it makes sense. There’s no doubt that if Messi returns it would help is in a football sense.
“I’ve told the president that. I have no doubt…because he is still a player who can make the difference, he’s still hungry, he’s a winner, a leader, and he’s also a different player.
“We don’t have a Barcelona team with the talent of 2010…[Messi] would bring talent, the final ball, set pieces, goals…”
Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez joked that he will try to persuade Lionel Messi to join Aston Villa.
The Paris Saint-Germain attacker is likely to leave the French club on a free transfer in the summer.
Messi is out of contract and has offers from Saudi Arabian domestic clubs, while Barcelona are also keen on bringing him back to the club.
“I would bring him to Aston Villa,” Martinez smiled and joked in an interview with ESPN Argentina.
“I would tempt him with a mate (a South American drink), I’d make roasts for him every weekend, I’d ask people to make little flags for him and he has a good time.
Speculations are rife that Lionel Messi will exit Paris Saint-Germain this summer after the club slammed a two-week suspension on him for traveling to Saudi Arabia without getting permission.
According to French journal, L’Equipe, PSG will no longer offer Messi a contract extension.
The Argentine’s contract ends at the end of the season with no plan of a renewal.
The Argentina captain has been linked with a return to Barcelona and a few MLS clubs.
Messi is understood to have asked PSG for permission, having twice postponed a scheduled commercial trip there previously due to team defeats.
However, Messi did not get an approval and has now been fined two weeks’ wages.
He will sit out league games against Troyes and Ajaccio.
La Liga president Javier Tebas admits he struggles to see how Barcelona can sign Lionel Messi.
The PSG star remains a target for Barca, though a return faces the obstacle of LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play.
Tebas said on RMC: “As of today, I see it as complicated. There is still time, but there will have to be an exit of players and a reduction in the wage bill.
“There will have to be in order to be able to register Messi. And then there is one thing we don’t know, which is Messi’s salary. There are still many variables.
“Barça is not like PSG, who have a tap of gas and money to have a large wage bill. It has to reduce the wage bill to be able to sign players.
“It’s like the metro, let people out so they can come in. And people still have to get out of the metro.”
Barcelona manager Xavi had a mixed reaction with fans chanting ‘Lionel Messi’ during their 0-0 draw with Girona.
The chants were made at the Nou Camp on Monday night as the PSG star is linked with a return to the Blaugrana.
Xavi reacted, stating: “The mood is positive. I think people value where we came from but we still need to get this title.
“As for Leo, I see that he generates illusion. They have been chanting his name for two games but we will see if it happens. Today I was watching a program on TV and I heard that it was the cheapest League in recent years. And this, to say the least, surprises me.
“And it annoys me. We are in the post-Messi era, we are making a titanic effort and I don’t like it.”
Two people on motorcycles shot at a supermarket belonging to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo, wife of Lionel Messi, in Rosario, in Argentina’s Santa Fe province early on Thursday morning.
Local media and the city’s mayor reported that a threatening hand-written message was also left on the shop’s door for 35-year-old Messi.
Messi who plays for French giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is Argentina’s captain and seven-times World Player of the Year.
“Messi, we are waiting for you, (Pablo) Javkin (the mayor) is also a narco, he is not going to take care of you,” it read.
Javkin blamed the security forces for failing to effectively combat organised crime.
Crime in recent years has grown in the important port city, where dozens of ships daily load thousands of tons of grain.
“I spoke (with the Roccuzzos) and they are worried,” Javkin told reporters outside the supermarket that was attacked.
Television images showed bullet casings on the sidewalk where the business belonging to Roccuzzo’s family is located.
The front of the building was hit by 14 bullets and the shop remained closed on Thursday morning.
Santa Fe’s Security Minister Claudio Brilloni told reporters that authorities did not have any firm assumptions regarding the motives for the attack.
Prosecutor Federico Rébola said the Roccuzzo family had not received any previous threats, a Rosario media outlet reported.
On the official Twitter account “Team Messi” and Antonela Roccuzzo’s Instagram profile, there were no mentions of the incidents.
The murder rate in Rosario is among the highest in Argentina, as gangs linked to drug trafficking co-exist, according to judicial complaints, and clashes causing injuries and deaths are frequently reported.
The attack came weeks before Argentina play two friendly matches in the South American country.
This will be three months after Messi led the team to victory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Neither game will take place in Rosario though.
Argentina face Panama on March 23 in the capital Buenos Aires and on March 28 they play in the province of Santiago del Estero against Curacao.
The matches will be the team’s first in Argentina since the 2022 World Cup.
Brazil football legend, Ronaldo De Lima, has congratulated the Argentine, Lionel Messi after he won the FIFA Best Player Award on Monday night in Paris.
Both South American legends shared a lovely moment at the FIFA Best ceremony on Monday night.
Messi won the FIFA Best player award this week in Paris after beating the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema.
Ronaldo congratulated Messi for Argentina’s win in the 2022 FIFA World Cup during their embrace at the FIFA Best ceremony.
Recall that Messi led Argentina to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar last December.
Ronaldo told Messi (via GiveMeSport): “Congratulations for the World Cup, how beautiful, eh? You deserve it. I’m very happy for you…”
Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi will be making a return to the second round of this year’s Champions League last -16 first leg tie against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Mbappe was expected to be out for three weeks after suffering a thigh injury earlier this month.
The French forward trained on the eve of Tuesday’s heavyweight contest, a repeat of the 2020 final,which Bayern won 1-0.
“We’re not sure yet whether he will be on the match sheet,” said PSG boss Christophe Galtier on Monday.
Galtier added: “Kylian did the whole session today. We made the decision that he would train with everyone today.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup with Argentina Lionel Messi who has received treatment for a hamstring problem, has also been named in the PSG squad.
Mbappe and Messi return to the PSG side will be a huge boost for Paris St-Germain, who have lost their past two domestic matches.
The Ligue 1 leaders have never won the Champions League and PSG know they must raise their game to get past Bayern, the six-time European champions.
Bayern Munich have been unbeaten in all competitions since 17 September. 2022.Forward Thomas Muller is relishing two games against PSG, with the return leg in Germany on 8 March.
“Two very good teams with very good players,” said Muller, a two-time Champions League winner, when asked about the tie.
“Sadly one cannot go through to the next round. A big game of football.”
Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, on Thursday, scored twice in his first non-international match (Saudi debut) despite being punched in the head by a former team-mate, Keylor Navas.
Grimacing in pain from his bruised cheekbone after about 30 minutes in Riyadh, Ronaldo steadied himself before scoring from the penalty spot for his first goal in Saudi Arabia against a Paris Saint-Germain team featuring old foe Lionel Messi.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry has been among the greatest ever.
Messi scored just three minutes into the exhibition game when Ronaldo was flattened boxing-match style by PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas after about 30 minutes in Riyadh.
It was not Anthony Joshua but Navas who caught Ronaldo flush in the face with his forearm under a high ball.
Both went down like felled boxers.
Ronaldo held his head, got back up, did a wide yawn as if to test his sore left cheek, and sent his former Real Madrid teammate Navas the wrong way.
Cristiano Ronaldo fired in a penalty for his first goal
By the end of the first half Ronaldo’s cheekbone was bright apple red but he was all smiles after netting his second goal, smashing in a rebound when his header came back off the post. Poking his tongue out, Ronaldo wheeled away in delight and was mobbed by teammates at the corner flag.
When PSG star Kylian Mbappé checked on the state of Ronaldo’s cheek just before the second half, Ronaldo milked the attention from France’s World Cup star and pointed to the red mark.
Mbappé smiled at him as if to say “You’ll be fine” and Ronaldo raised his arm in triumph like a heavyweight champion.
Messi’s Qatari-backed PSG won 5-4 against a combined XI of Saudi Arabian teams Al Nassr and Al Hilal, captained by Al Nassr’s new signing Ronaldo, in front of 68,000 fans at King Fahd International Stadium. Although his team lost, Ronaldo edged perhaps the final installment of Ronaldo vs. Messi as one of the greatest rivalries in soccer history resumed in an unusual location.
Messi’s shot led to a handball and PSG’s fourth goal, scored by Mbappé from the penalty spot.
Ronaldo came off to a huge ovation just after the hour mark followed by Mbappé and Argentina’s World Cup-winning star Messi, who was warmly hugged by countryman Marcelo Gallardo, coaching the combined Saudi Arabian team.
Ronaldo’s bruise darkened with the night sky as he collected his man of the match award.
He was locked in conversation with ex-Madrid teammates Sergio Ramos and Navas before the medal ceremony. Then he spoke to Portugal teammates Renato Sanches and Danilo, who play for PSG.
But Ronaldo was nowhere near Messi, almost like they avoided each other. They could not do that earlier on the field, when Ronaldo tackled Messi in the second minute.
Moments later, Messi smiled as he scored from Neymar’s lofted pass. Ronaldo looked annoyed with his teammates for letting Messi ghost into space. Harsh, because few defenders have ever tracked Messi’s runs, let alone stopped them. The World Cup proved that if it was ever in doubt.
There was scant interaction between former Madrid star Ronaldo and Messi, his arch-rival during Barcelona’s glory days.
It was Ronaldo who tentatively approached an impassive-looking Messi at the center circle seconds before the whistle blew to start perhaps their final game as opponents.
There was a polite exchange, the briefest handshake.
Messi stared at Ronaldo late in the first half, after PSG defender Juan Bernat had been sent off, and Ronaldo seemed to look away from Messi.
It was a different mood in the tunnel beforehand, when a grinning Ronaldo hugged Ramos, who now plays alongside Messi, and joked with Ramos that he’d forgotten to remove an ear stud.
The laugh was on Ramos later, when he air-kicked a loose ball on Ronaldo’s second goal. PSG’s Neymar also missed, from the penalty spot.
The atmosphere built before the start as fans waved Argentina flags while others held up the yellow jersey of Al Nassr, pointing proudly to Ronaldo’s No. 7 on the back. The ticker tape poured from the stands as Ronaldo led his team out. He smiled and winked when he got a loud ovation.
Ronaldo made it a brace after firing in a rebound
Ronaldo could end his storied career in Riyadh after signing a deal worth a reported $200 million a year, swapping Europe’s elite club competition for the Asian Champions League.
He makes his Saudi league debut for Al Nassr on Sunday against Ettifaq, far from the fields where he shone for Manchester United and Madrid.
The rivalry between football greatest, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will unfold today in an exhibition match that will hold in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
The match will be Portugal’s forward first match in the colours of new club Al Nassr FC of Saudi Arabia.
The last time both players faced each other was when they featured for La Liga club sides Real Madrid and Barcelona FC.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo has been handed Al Nassr’s captain armband in his first game for the club side.
After a glittering career in Europe that Ronaldo win four Champions League titles with Real Madrid and two Scudettos at Juventus, Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr, describing it as the “right moment” to share his experience in Asia.
The Saudi club is the latest stop in Ronaldo’s career that began in 2002 at Sporting CP before the forward spent two spells at Manchester United, the last of which ended on a bitter note as he exited following his acrimonious split with the club.
Ronaldo and Messi, who have dominated football’s debate about the greatest of all time (GOAT) for the best part of 10 years, will face off on the pitch on Thursday for the first time since December 2020 when Juventus beat Barcelona 3-0.
Ronaldo will lead Riyadh ST XI, a team made up of players from Al Hilal and Al Nassr, against Messi’s Paris St Germain in the exhibition contest where nothing is at stake, but fans are still excited by the prospect of watching the two stars clash.
The highly anticipated showdown, which will take place at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, reportedly had more than two million online ticket requests.
The bidding for a VIP “Beyond Imagination” ticket to the match has already topped 10 million riyals ($2.66 million) in an auction that is set to end later on Tuesday.
It was a different mood in the tunnel beforehand, when a grinning Ronaldo hugged Ramos, who now plays alongside Messi, and joked with Ramos that he’d forgotten to remove an ear stud.
