Fans

Lionel Messi is unique among athletes in that there are lots of people who think it's totally worth getting arrested just to be a little nearer to him. American sports don't see near the amount of fans running on to fields that soccer does, especially in regards to Messi. One young fan appeared to have made the most of his pitch-invaderdom following Barcelona's game against Malaga, hugging Messi and ending up with a game-worn Messi jersey.

And then the security guards decided to keep the Messi jersey for themselves.

There are many Lionel Messi fans out there. Millions, certainly. Billions, possibly. A little harder to find are LIONEL MESSI FANS, who only pop up once in a blue moon. Via the Internet, we encountered one such gentleman today.

This LIONEL MESSI FAN had the good fortune to receive an opportunity to acquire the best soccer player in the world's autograph. So what did he have Messi sign? His back, right next to his gigantic Messi tattoo, featuring two of Messi's trophies: the 2012 Copa del Rey trophy and the 2015 Copa del Rey trophy.

Remember the adorable little boy who made a Messi jersey out of a plastic bag and then went viral on the internet? If reports from various media organizations, most notably Sky News, are to be believed, his identity has been discovered at record speed even for the web.

A Kurdish television station is claiming to have found the boy, identified by them as a boy named Hamid, who lives in Dohuk, Kurdistan, in Iraq.

They showed him with a new(er) Barcelona number 10 jersey, ostensibly Messi's.

TV Preview: Juventus v Roma: the Bundesliga is back after a month off although most German sides were busy during the sabbatical. Chicharito did what Chicharito does, scoring goals in Florida of all places and with 19 goals in 22 appearances, the Mexican National player is getting glances from English sides once more.  

TV Preview: Borussia Monchengladbach v Borussia Dortmund: the Bundesliga is back after a month off although most German sides were busy during the sabbatical. Chicharito did what Chicharito does, scoring goals in Florida of all places and with 19 goals in 22 appearances, the Mexican National player is getting glances from English sides once more.

TV Preview: Atletico Madrid v Sevilla: the Bundesliga is back after a month off although most German sides were busy during the sabbatical. Chicharito did what Chicharito does, scoring goals in Florida of all places and with 19 goals in 22 appearances, the Mexican National player is getting glances from English sides once more.  

TV Preview: Chivas v Tigres: the Bundesliga is back after a month off although most German sides were busy during the sabbatical. Chicharito did what Chicharito does, scoring goals in Florida of all places and with 19 goals in 22 appearances, the Mexican National player is getting glances from English sides once more.

There are some crazy people out there, proper lunatics even, but we never understood how truly nutty people could be until today. The term "Mario balotelli superfan" is not used very often, for very obvious and very reational reasons. We, to be honest, did not think that such thing existed.

Then this turned up on Mario Balotelli's Instagram:

Big news in the world of football off and on the pitch during the week as Lionel Messi won his fifth Ballon d’Or while both his rivals in Madrid were handed a harsh transfer decision by FIFA.

The big ceremony thing announcing the unveiling of Los Angeles FC's colors and crest also featured the unveiling of a new part-owner: Will Ferrell.

Will Ferrell

.@WillFerreI just crashed @MiaHamm's speech at the unveiling of #LAFC's colors. pic.twitter.com/6y4RHvNEiL