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.
It's no shame to be eliminated from the Champions League by the current best player in the world, who hapens to be one of the greatest of all time. That's what happened to Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Bayer Leverkusen Wednesday, when they were eliminated by Lionel Messi and Barcelona.
It's the season of giving, and what better way to highlight the season of giving than to shine a light on a gift given by one of the best to ever do it to another of the best to ever do it. A regular gift from a regular person is nice, but a Messi gift from Lionel Messi is twice as nice.
And when you are Ronaldinho, and Messi is a close personal friend of yours, a Messi gift is thrice as nice.
Here's what happened: Messi gave his buddy Ronaldinho a signed Lionel Messi Barcelona jersey, and Ronaldinho thanked his buddy Messi for the gift on Instagram and Twitter.
Barcelona have perhaps the greatest forward line ever assembled, but for how much longer?
According to The Sun (so take this information with however many grains of salt you feel are appropriate), Barcelona's wage bill is 73 percent of its total revenue.
The Sun also reported that Barca are planning a £423 million renovation of the Camp Nou.
Messi, you can't always get what you want.
What he wasnted was to be on the Ballon d'Or podium with fellow Barcelona forwards Neymar Jr. and Luis Suarez.
What he got was Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.
"I am happy to be once more among the three best, and to go to another gala," Messi said.
The defining characteristic of any tragedy is the inability to make any sense of it. Thus, the term "senseless violence."
We are led to believe that everything happens for a reason, and when a tragedy on the scale of the Paris attacks occurs we must all try and ferret out a reason behind the tragedy, be it spiritual, ideological or otherwise.
Before we can move on with our lives, we must know why they have been affected so.
The finalists for the Puskas Award, the award for the best goal scored in a calendar year, have been whittled by voters from 10 down to just three.
One of those finalists was an incredible dribble goal by one Lionel Messi, who also happens to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or, given to the best player on the planet in a given calendar year.