Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi made his first start of the season against Villarreal on Tuesday and normalcy was restored to Barcelona for 15 minutes. Barça raced to a 2-0 lead over that period, but then Messi went down and the Camp Nou went quiet.

It certainly didn’t appear to be a recurrence of the calf injury that’s plagued him so far, and he carried on through the remainder of the first half — just long enough to see Villarreal pull one back through Santi Cazorla.  

Tim Sherwood said something this weekend that really made my blood boil.

The former Tottenham manager turned pundit provided some post-match commentary on Arsenal’s 3-2 comeback victory against Aston Villa on Sunday, and while most of what came out his mouth was typical drivel about “wanting it more” and “grit,” Sherwood had a pretty unique take on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s decision to let Nicolas Pépé take a penalty kick:

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 went down in Milan today, and you can rest assured that The18 tried its best to watch on YouTube, but good lord, this stuff is mostly unwatchable. It's remarkably drawn out, full of self-aggrandizing nonsense from FIFA and the forced banter between hosts Ilaria D'Amico, Ruud Gullit and the guests makes you search for the mute button while your skin crawls.

But other than that it's pretty good! 

Let’s go to the green carpet for some select photos before the ceremony. Here’s Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe looking fly. 

Josef Martinez is joining (and exceeding) elite company. He’s surpassed Gabriel Batistuta, Jamie Vardy and Robert Lewandowski and is now chasing Lionel Messi for one of the most impressive goal records in the world. 

And he’s doing it by embarrassing defenders in Major League Soccer.

It’s been a while since Lionel Messi’s last in-depth interview with a major news outlet, but one has just landed today from Barcelona-based daily SPORT.

The 2018-19 UEFA Champions League technical report was released today, and it’s got 51 pages of highly entertaining and valuable information that analyzes specific tactical and technical trends at the very top of the world’s game. The comprehensive overview of last season’s competition includes some fascinating insights.

Who needs Lionel Messi when you’ve got Ansu Fati?

Well, Barcelona still needs Messi, but the Catalan club has something special in this 16-year-old forward. 

With Messi out injured, Fati made his LaLiga debut last week as Antoine Griezmann stole the show. 

Against Osasuna on Saturday, Fati was the star.

Is Messi injured still? That’s the question on every Barcelona fan’s mind as the Blaugrana prepare for their second LaLiga match of the 2019-20 campaign.

Sadly, it appears their talisman, Lionel Messi, is still out injured.

For the second straight week, Messi was not included in Ernesto Valverde’s LaLiga squad. In his place is 16-year-old phenom Ansu Fati.