Lionel Messi made his 500th appearance for FC Barcelona on Wednesday and, naturally, was on the scoresheet. Messi was named in the starting XI, as well as captain for the night, despite having just passed a kidney stone and traveling between Japan, Argentina, Dubai and Barcelona over the past 10 days.
No matter. Messi put in another Man of the Match performance during Barca's 4-0 La Liga victory over Real Betis.
Neymar got a new haircut. This in and of itself is not super noteworthy. Neymar gets new haircuts all the time.
What is noteworthy is how Neymar's partners on the Barcelona forward line, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi, reacted to Neymar's new look, which looks kid of like a starter version of an '80s rocker mullet, with the sides shaved and the top and back slightly grown out.
Ronaldinho wore the number 10 shirt at Barcelona. When Ronaldinho Left Barcelona, Messi began wearing the number 10 shirt, a shirt he still wears today.
It may be just a jersey number, but the story behind how Messi ended up with the Barcelona number 10 jersey after Ronaldinho left is actually pretty interesting.
Paul Pogba and Lionel Messi hung out in Dubai because they are awesome. And Paul Pogba dabbed.
If you are unfamiliar with what "dabbing" is, it's the latest popular sports celebration dance, popularized by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, that makes old white people very nervous and spawns comments like this from them:
The past was always better. That seems to sum up Pelé’s vision of modern soccer. He said that nowadays he would be a much better player than he was in his day because there is more preparation and care for footballers.
Luis Enrique stands on the touchline and watches FC Barcelona’s tremendous troika of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar (MSN) nearly every day in matches and in training.
And yet, the Blaugrana boss remains amazed at what the trio can accomplish when they are at their best.
“They are the best in the world,” Enrique told the press recently. “They have a great understanding and when they don’t all score [in a match] they’re not happy.”
Lionel Messi has another trophy, much to the chagrin of some of his countrymen. Barcelona beat Argentinian club River Plate in the Club World Cup final with the help of Lionel Messi's first-half goal (the game ended 3-1).
HT: River Plate 0, Barcelona 1. Messi scores in his third straight Club World Cup Final as Barca lead at the break. https://t.co/iXSxCJPsi0
If you're left-footed, you know that you've been gifted with both a blessing and a curse. Typically, you're an oddity on the team, alone in your preference for the left foot. Left-handers make up only 10% of the general population, and only half of southpaws are also left-footed. Our numbers may be small, but we are incomparably strong. We've got Messi.
#1: You’re the first name on the team sheet
Adalberto Peñaranda made history in La Liga last Saturday by becoming the youngest foreign player (18 years and 195 days) to score a brace.
The Venezuelan forward, who made his debut in La Liga on November 22 against Athletic Club de Bilbao, scored both goals for Granada CF in a win at Levante, 2-1. The match was held at the Ciudad de Valencia stadium.
So Barcelona may not have gotten the result against Bayer Leverkusen they would have wanted, but Lionel Messi once again showed that him 1 on 1 with a goal keeper is absolutely no contest.
In the 20th minute, Ivan Rakitic played a perfectly timed diagonal ball that connected with Messi in a defense spitting play. It was beautiful, and left Messi in so much space I wondered if he would call an old friend and “catch up on old times” before he scored. Instead, he just scored.