Category Archives: Barcelona

Top 10 Reasons Lionel Messi Is Leaving Barcelona

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Messi’s contract at Barcelona comes to an end and the conclusion of the 2020/2021 season. PSG have offered Lionel Messi a gigantic contract to lure him away from Barcelona. Here are the reasons why Messi will leave Barca.

1. New Challange

Lionel Messi relocated to Spain to join Barcelona when he was 13 years old. He was in Barcelona before his voice broke and before he knew what porn was. That’s a long time. 

Lionel Messi has won everything with Barcelona. It’s time for him to find a new challenge elsewhere. 

2. GOAT argument

The Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo Greatest Of All Time Debate (GOAT) debate has been a hot one in bars, barbershops, and nail spas for a number of years. 

When the Ronaldo Stans play the He Has Done It In More Than One League card the Messi supporters do not have a comeback. Cristiano Ronaldo has dominated the English, Spanish and Italian leagues whilst Messi has only conquered the Spanish Laliga. 

Look, you’d be an idiot to think Messi wouldn’t crush it in another league but most of us are idiots and Messi knows that. Doing it in another country would pretty much seal his GOAT case.  

3. Barcelona’s financial situation

Barcelona are broke. Well, relatively speaking. They owe a lot of money. Barcelona are $1.3 billion in debt. 

This limits them in the amount of money they can offer him and the quality of players they can bring in. 

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4. PSG’s Crazy Offer

Whilst Barcelona are broke, PSG are far from it. Last week they apparently made Lionel Messi an offer he can’t refuse. We don’t know the numbers yet but word on the internet streets is signing their contract would make him the highest-paid footballer and then some. 

5. Neymar and Mbappe

A move to PSG would see him play with two of the best players on planet earth after him. 

6. Champions League

The last time Barcelona won the Champions League I was still considered to be young, masks weren’t in fashion and, Iggy Azalea had a hit song. It was 2015, a much simpler time. When you could stand close enough to people to smell their breath when they talked. 

Barcelona have not been able to win the prestigious trophy in European football since then. And to tell the truth, they haven’t looked like a team that could. Cristiano Ronaldo has five Champions League winners medals Lionel Messi has three. 

7. Barcelona may need to rebuild

Every club gets to a stage where they press the reset button. Barcelona are in debt and their best players are a thousand years old. The future does look bright with players like Ansu Fati and Pedri. But, Messi is old he doesn’t have time to wait for those guys to hit their prime.

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8. No relationship with the board

Lionel Messi has never liked the Barcelona hierarchy. This is the only way he is similar to you and me in that he hates his bosses. 

9. No winning project

If we compare Barcelona to the best teams in Europe they are definitely in the top 10. But, I’m not sure I would put them in the top 5. 

They aren’t at that level now, they don’t have much money so they won’t be able to buy players to take them to that echelon any time soon. 

10. We’d like to see him play for another team

This is more about us than it is about him. We, as fans, would like to see Messi wear another jersey. Barcelona will always be his home and we have seen the best of him there but FIFA can’t be the only place we see him play for another team. 

We’d like to see if he could be as good in another system in another country. 

By Cheez

Don’t forget to tune into ‘The Soccer Podcast With No Name’ podcast every Thursdays at 17h00 pm. Also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

 

[Feature] El Clásico – Decade By Decade: 10 Landmarks in the History of the Greatest Game in Club Football

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This Saturday the world will witness one of the biggest El Clasico of the season, if not the century. For the past 10 decades, there’s been exceptional play and moments that will stay in everyone’s memories forever.

Here are 10 landmarks in the history of El Clasico, from the 1920s to the 2010s: 

1920s: The first ever LaLiga El Clásico

The first LaLiga Clasico took place in February 1929. Just two weeks into the first-ever LaLiga season. Barcelona’s Les Corts stadium was packed with confident fans that day, but they left disappointed as Real Madrid scored either side of half time and hang on for a 2-1 inaugural win. Barça won the reverse fixture 1-0 – and the first-ever LaLiga title – but the first ElClasico win went to the capital.

1930s: Real Madrid run up the biggest victory in LaLiga El Clásico history

The 1934-35 El Clásico fixtures were remarkable. Barça won 5-0 at Les Corts before Real Madrid turned it around with an incredible 8-2 win at Chamartin. The home side went 5-1 up after just half an hour, prompting Barça’s Hungarian coach Ferenc Plattko to ask the ball to be changed at the break as he feared foul play!

It made no difference as the Real Madrid side racked up the biggest ever LaLiga ElClasico win.

1940s: The birth of El Clásico as we know it today?

It could be said that the birth of the intense El Clásico rivalry we know today was born in the 1940s.  There were hot-headed encounters between the two sides. Among them was the highest scoring draw ever registered between these two sides: a 5-5 draw at Les Corts in 1943.

1950s: El Clásico becomes Spain’s first televised football match

On February 15th, 1959 as El Clásico became the first football match ever televised on Spanish television. There was a pre-game scramble for the latest technology. TV sets quickly sold out across both cities. Real Madrid, featuring the great Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas, won 1-0 that day at the Bernabeu. But were unable to prevent Barcelona to win their first LaLiga title in seven years.

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La Liga Exhibition Store Opens Doors In South Africa

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With South Africa’s LaLiga audiences having grown 210% since last season, the world’s most beloved Spanish football league held an activation exhibition at Fourways Mall last week Thursday to bring more entertainment to their loyal supporters. I was there to see the ribbon-cutting by South Africa’s Managing Director of LaLiga, Marcos Pelegrin, who officially opened the LaLiga pop up store at Fourways Mall.

As part of the day’s engagements, invited guests got to listen to a fascinating Q&A facilitated by Musician, Comedian and Presenter Robot Boii and a LaLiga stand set up where we as fans could strike a pose and take pictures with their favourite team jerseys.

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Barcelona/Messi Saga – Episode 2: Lionel Messi Has Went From Demanding To Asking Nicely To Leave

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It seems as though Lionel Messi has made up his mind. He wants to leave Barcelona and he wants to leave now.

Messi is known for making rash decisions, especially after bad football games. He retired from international football after Argentina lost the Copa America final in 2016 (he unretired soon after). Now Messi asked to leave Barcelona after they lost 8-2 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final. On the surface, the decision may seem a bit rash BUT, this time, it’s a bit different.

Messi has beef with Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu and he isn’t keen on new head coach Ronald Koeman.

Last week Messi threw his toys out the pram and demanded a transfer elsewhere. After taking a deep breath and standing in a corner for a few moments, Messi has remembered to say please.

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The internet streets say Lionel Messi has asked the club twice for a friendly exit. He doesn’t want to face a lawsuit against the club he loves. Barcelona sacked their law firm Cuatrecasas for advising Messi on an exit strategy for leaving the club so it seems Lionel Messi has legal options. However, Barcelona are said to legally refute the standing of this claim and they will not allow him to leave the club unless his €700m release clause is activated by another club.

It’s time. It’s time for Barcelona to let go. Lionel Messi will go down as the greatest player to ever wear a Barcelona jersey. They believed in him when he was a 13-year-old pimple-faced teen and he repaid them with all the accolades he has won for them. Why drag this on any longer and get bad press over it?

Barcelona fans will be distraught at the potential of losing the best player on the planet but it may be time for the team to rebuild. This won’t be the last episode in the Messi/Barcelona Saga. Barcelona are going to fight tooth and nail to not let him go.

I’ll keep you posted.

By @chizfootball (the greatest footy journo on the internet)

Would The Signing Of Messi Really Be A Good Move For Manchester City? I’m Just Asking…

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I’m sure everybody and their momma has heard Lionel Messi wants out of Barcelona. Word of the internet streets is Manchester City have their gun cocked and loaded, ready to pull the trigger on the transfer of Messi. But, would a move to Manchester be beneficial for both parties? 

Manchester City is a team that underperformed in the 2019/20 Premier League season. Their only achievement was to win the league cup.  Liverpool beat them to the title by 18 points, they got knocked out of the FA Cup by a weak Arsenal team, and they got sent home for the Champions League bubble by Olympique Lyon. 😔

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Lionel Messi fax to Barcelona: ‘I want to leave!’

Lionel Messi has demanded a move away from Barcelona. The team that signed him when he was a pre-teen stuffed things up this season. They lost the La Liga title to an average Real Madrid side, hired a coach that was clearly out of depth, and got the tombstone piledriver by Bayern Munich in the Champions. Sorry Barcelona fans I 8-2 to bring that up again. 

An underperforming club and the world’s greatest player who is disillusioned by his current team. It also helps Manchester City is coached by Pep Guardiola. The man who gave Lionel Messi the keys to the Barcelona offence in Pep’s time at the Camp Nou. 

It seems like a match made in heaven right?  

Uhm, I’m not so sure. Here are a few reasons why:

  1. Manchester City have enough attacking players, they don’t have a problem scoring they have a problem of keeping them out.
  2. Messi is great but is even better with an offence built around him. Should Guardiola change the way his City team plays to accommodate Messi? 
  3. Messi is going to cost Manchester City, who are already in the UEFA’s Financial Fair Play sleuths radar, a lot of money to sign him. How can they justify the funds especially with coronavirus? 

By @chizfootball (the greatest footy journo on the internet)

Lionel Messi fax to Barcelona: ‘I want to leave!’

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There comes a time in everybody’s life when they have to leave the nest and fly away (Unless you are a millennial, of course). It seems as though the time has come for the G.O.A.T. Lionel Messi. Ronald Koeman was announced as Barcelona manager last week and in his first meeting he told Luis Suarez to take a hike and Messi that ‘your privileges in the squad are OVER‘.

This didn’t sit well with the Messi so he went home, blew the dust and cobwebs off his fax machine and faxed in a transfer request to Barcelona. 

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This act by Messi shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He had been openly irritated at the goings-on in Barca boardroom for a while. He dislikes Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, he didn’t think highly of now fired head coach Quique Setién, and he thinks his teammates, for a lack of a better word, stink.

Lionel Messi has been carrying this Barcelona team for the past couple of years. He is fed up. In the last couple of months, Messi has threatened to leave if things don’t change. At that time I thought he was bluffing but now I think he is serious. I mean the guy sent a fax. Who sends faxes nowadays???

Ronald Koeman and Messi won’t get along. Koeman is known to be a hard-nosed disciplinarian and Messi likes it when the coaches brown-nose a little bit. At the end of the day, it will be up to Barcelona to let their child go. He has a one year left on his contract. Plus, nobody in their right state of mind will pay his $828 million buy out clause. 

By @cheezfootball (the greatest footy journo on the internet)

Barcelona team erratic and weak…: Lionel Messi

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Last night, Real Madrid were crowned champions of LaLiga. Whilst over in Barcelona, the Catalans lost to a 10-man Osasuna. 🙆‍♂️

Messi turned evil Super Saiyan and unleashed his anger in a rare post-match interview.

https://twitter.com/beINSPORTS_EN/status/1283882354516406274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1283882354516406274%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ffootball%2Farticle-8532089%2FLionel-Messi-FURIOUS-weak-Barcelona-slump-defeat-home-Osasuna.html

‘This game represents the entire year. We have been an erratic and weak team,’

‘Madrid did its part by winning all its matches, which is impressive, but we also helped them to win this league. We have to be critical of how we have played, starting with the players, and the rest of the club.

‘We have lost because of our mistakes and not because of Madrid’s successes, as many say.

‘The feeling on this team is that it tries, but that it cannot get the job done. Today in the first half they were better than we were and it seems we have to fall behind to react like we tried to do in the second half.’

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The game summed up Barcelona’s campaign. They had a lot of the possession and created chances they could not finish. Their defence has been shaky, their midfield has been below average, and their attack is led by Luis Suarez – who doesn’t look like he can actually run anymore.

They signed Antoine Griezmann at the beginning of the season but he has struggled to fit in. Mainly because he has been played out of position on the flanks. He is more effective in the centre behind the main striker. A position that is owned by Messi.

Champions League 

My five-year-old Messi-stan son: ‘Barcelona are still in the champions league, at least they have a chance to win a trophy right Dad?’

Well, Messi isn’t so confident.

‘Roma, Liverpool… the fans are running out of patience because we’re not giving them anything. If we want to fight for the Champions League, a lot has to change. Like this, we will lose to Napoli.’ Super Saiyan Messi continued.

Barca are tied with Napoli 1-1 in their last-16 clash. Last year they crashed out the competition to eventual winners Liverpool after leading 3-0 in the first leg. The year before that, they got choked slammed off the top rope by Roma after leading 4-1 on aggregate going into the away game. 

I’m not a betting man but I wouldn’t put my money on Barcelona making waves in this year’s competition either.

The Barcelona board should be worried. Messi hasn’t signed a new contract and has now come out publicly with his concerns about the team. He may want to stay at the club till he retires but Barcelona may be forcing his hand in considering the opposite.

Former Barca President: Leo Messi Will Leave Barcelona

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Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta concerned that Lionel Messi could quit the Nou Camp due to beef in the boardroom. Leo Messi has less than 12 months remaining on his Barcelona contract. He hasn’t been impressed with how the team has been performing and he refusing to sign a new deal.

Joan Laporta who was Barcelona president between 2003 and 2010 thinks the guy who is currently in the position, Josep Maria Bartomeu, is whack.

“I want him (Messi) to stay in 2021 but I am scared that a bad decision of this board could result in an irreversible decision,” Laporta said at an event at Sant Joan de Deu hospital on Wednesday.

“It’s not BarcaGate, it’s BartoGate, I am worried about how the status of the club is being put at risk.”

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Leo Messi is said to hate Bartomeu guts. Okay, I may be exaggerating. But Messi is trying to politic Bartomeu out of his position as the Ramaphosa of Barcelona. The next upcoming Barcelona presidential election will take place in the summer (our winter) of 2021 – usually a date in June.

Messi is using his leverage, as the best player on the planet, to get this guy out of Barcelona. Messi’s current contract expires in June 2021. He is probably going to wait it out till the end of next season before he makes a decision. He may be playing a game of chicken or he may be dead ass serious. Barcelona right now is a middle table team without Messi. They cannot afford to left him, and worse for FREE!🙆🏾‍♂️

 

 

 

La Liga Thursdays: Laliga Wins A Record Eleventh Ballon D’or In A Row

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Ten years after winning his first Ballon d’Or award, the prize given out annually by France Football to the best player of the calendar year, Lionel Messi has won it for a sixth time. The Barcelona forward was crowned the planet’s best footballer in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and now again in 2019.

Messi’s sixth Ballon d’Or victory means that this is the 11th year in a row in which a LaLiga Santander-based player has won the prestigious honour. In this time, Cristiano Ronaldo also won four Ballon d’Or awards while at Real Madrid and then Luka Modrić also brought the prize back to the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu last year. Continue reading →