It’s time to face facts: the two best players in the world, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, are getting older.
Entering the 2015/2016 La Liga Season, which kicked off this weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo is 30. He will be 31 by February. The baby-faced flea, Messi, is now 28.
Both men have grown up, from young guns to team captains and leaders.
Now, just what does the future hold for the two best players alive?
Just off the western coast of Morocco lies a volcanic archipelago known as the Canary Islands. Despite its size, the Spanish-controlled territory has developed a locally based premier division called the Preferente which combines with the fifth division of Spanish football. Local Canary Island club Raqui San Isidro are becoming more popular by the day in the Preferente since Pedro’s transfer from Barcelona to Chelsea.
Chelsea made the long-rumored move official on Wednesday when it made its first major addition of the summer by swooping in to sign winger Pedro for £21M from Barcelona. While the player must still pass his medical, the deal looks like it is officially done.
Bilbao, Spain hosted an incredible celebration for their returning Supercopa champions, Athletic Bilbao, who took down La Liga’s toughest opponent. A 31 year drought of trophies is now history for Athletic Bilbao supporters, and they showed exactly how much it meant.
La felicidad es esto #supertxapeldunak pic.twitter.com/DaGAbDUhHE
So Barcelona got beat out by Athletic Bilbao for the rights to the Spanish Super Cup. More accurately, they get embarrassed. The first game was a 4-0 drubbing that absolutely no one saw coming, and the next was embarrassing for what happened, and what didn’t.
The Spanish Super Cup is a competition which has taken place since 1982, pitting the Spanish league champion against the champion of the Copa del Rey.
Until 1995, if a team won both the league and cup titles it won the Super Cup by default. However, since 1996, if a team does the double it must face the runner-up from the Copa del Rey for the right to claim the trophy.
This is the case in 2015. Barcelona, who won both trophies in 2015, will face Athletic Club de Bilbao on August 14 at San Mames and August 17 at Camp Nou.
Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup Tuesday and Messi was the star with two free kick goals. His immense talent was on display, and one lunatic is claiming Messi's goals were due to luck. That lunatic is Lionel Messi.
"I've just been lucky enough to score those and I'm very happy the team won and very grateful to everyone for their support and such a warm welcome," Messi said after the game.
While the brain trust at The18 has long argued that Manchester United have more pressing personnel matters to deal with at the other end of the pitch, Louis van Gaal has been insistent since United’s pre-season tour of America that what he needs most is “speed and creativity” up front.
The UEFA Super Cup, between the winners of the Champions League and Europa League will take place between Barcelona and Sevilla tomorrow.
If Barcelona win, they would match Milan as the top winners of this competition, each team having won five times.
Boris Paichadze National Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, will host the match. In Cardiff last year Sevilla fell 2-0 to Real Madrid.
When I imagine what it must be like to play with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar, images of sandy beaches and brightly colored drinks with their very own umbrellas float into my head, but, you know, in a footballing sense.
I think that their talents would make my job infinitely easier, allowing me to merely spray passes forward, because they are more likely than not to land at the feet of a world-class player, and have success. And, looking at Ivan Rakitic play, it is tempting to believe that this is the case.