Spain

Lionel Messi and his Barcelona teammates, including Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic, took a moment to read tweets about themselves in an ad campaign for the new 2017 Audi Q2. Fortunately for the Barca players, this was nothing like Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment.

The players read tweets containing strange tags that ultimately praised them as footballers and individuals. The highlight of the two-minute video is watching Messi awkwardly praise himself.

It's clear to anyone watching that while still very good, Cristiano Ronaldo is on the physical decline. Questions have arisen surrounding his ability to remain effective while not being the team’s centerpiece. He is still clearly very capable, but his ineffeciency is indicative of a man not quite ready to accept his new role. 

After over three weeks on the sidelines due to a groin injury, Lionel Messi made a triumphant return to football by scoring Barcelona’s fourth in their 4-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna. The assist was fantastically provided by Neymar and the finish from Messi was emphatic.

It must’ve been an excruciating break from playing for Messi, watching Barcelona lose to Celta Vigo and then Argentina flounder in World Cup qualifying.

Sir Alex Ferguson famously quipped before the 2009 Champions League Final that Barcelona "get you on that carousel and they make you dizzy with their passing.” The rhythm and tempo of their passing makes opponents feel as though they’re chasing ghosts around the pitch.

When most people compare and contrast Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, they only focus on their soccer abilities. But we want to know: who lives the more lavish lifestyle?

If you were to wake up next morning having gone through some sort of body snatchers experience, whose house would you rather wake up in? Whose car would you rather drive to training? Who sports the best look? These are the questions that we set out to answer.

When Barcelona announced plans to revamp the Camp Nou at a cost of €600 million, the sporting advantages were obvious. The capacity is being upped from 99,354 to 105,000, and, more importantly, a roof is being added to cover the seats around the entirety of the stadium, ensuring that opponents encounter a wall of noise regardless of the significance of the match.

With Spanish giants Valencia currently sitting in the relegation zone of the La Liga table, multi-billionaire chairman Peter Lim is reportedly set on bringing Mexican international Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez to the third largest city in Spain by triggering his £40.7 million release clause.

Valencia’s horrid start to the season resulted in the early firing of Pako Ayestaran, but Los Che have acted quickly to replace him with former Fiorentina and Italy manager Cesare Prandelli.

James Rodriguez has been the subject of death threats on Twitter as revealed by his mother. The Colombian international received a photo of a box filled with ammunition and a gun while a couple of other weapons are also visible in frame. 

“Do you want to see how James would look dead?” said the message from the anonymous user. “I’m coming to your house now, say goodbye to all your loves ones.”

By any measure, Gerard Pique is one of the best central defenders ever, an omnipresent force in the back lines of Champions League-winning Barcelona sides and World Cup and European Championship-winning Spanish sides. Pique announced his decision to retire from the latter following the 2018 World CUp in Russia, and now everyone is talking about his shirts.

For one brief moment, let us consider the duck. To the casual observer watching from the riverbank, the duck seems to glide across the water with immaculate ease. The only noticeable deviation from the otherwise placid surface is a slight ripple emerging behind the bird, a sign that the water has been elegantly parted by the smooth feathers before collapsing back to form. 

From a distance, the movement of the duck is relaxing, calm and refined.