Such has been the ease with which Neymar’s transitioned to life in Barcelona that it’s difficult to imagine the Brazilian captain ever struggling following his move from Santos in June 2013.
However, Neymar has revealed to TV Globo that his first days at the Camp Nou were riddled with fright and nerves.
I want to make one thing perfectly clear before we begin: this isn’t about the soccer. I love Messi when he plays soccer. Messi lights up the world and makes my day better when he has a ball at his feet. This isn't even really about Messi. It isn't his fault Barcelona initiated a tone-deaf social media campaign to support him after he got convicted of tax fraud. It's Barcelona's fault. And now they've gone and made it worse.
Lionel Messi was convicted of tax fraud earlier this week and sentenced to two years in jail. He will most likely not serve any of that, as he is a first-time offender. For whatever reason, the powers that be in Barcelona's marketing department decided that, despite being an uber-wealthy, tax-dodging international superstar, Messi needs some sympathy.
It’s a question that has divided football fans for years now, and we’ve finally been provided a definitive, solid answer. Regardless of where your allegiances previously held court, either with the diminutive, technically gifted Argentine or the more robust, 18-yard box dwelling Portuguese, we now know once and for all who’s the better player.
No team on the planet passes the ball quite like Barcelona. The tiki-taka masters display a telepathic connection on the pitch that leads to some magisterial build up play and fantastic goals. Thanks to FC Barcelona’s official YouTube page, we can now watch Barcelona’s top 10 assists of the 2015-16 season.
All this talk about Messi retiring lately made us really depressed, so we decided to look to the future instead. Namely, his offspring, the fabled Messi sons.
The court of Catalonia has sentenced Lionel Messi and his father Jorge to 21 months in prison for evading more than €4 million in owed tax payments. However, since the sentence is less than two years and both of the accused have a clean criminal record, they’ll likely escape serving any time behind bars.
Lionel Messi’s past and present Barcelona teammates have leapt to his defense following the Argentine’s shocking decision to retire from international football following Argentina’s defeat at the hand’s of Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario final.
If Lionel Messi was trying to make a political statement when he announced his retirement from the Argentina National Team, he got the attention of the man in whose direction such things are usually pointed: Argentina President Mauricio Macri.
Macri tweeted yesterday that he hopes the to watch La Pulga play for La Albiceleste "for years to come."