Lionel Messi can walk among the fans who worship him everywhere, but in Argentina he must be careful to not be hit unexpectedly. Called "the new Maradona", Barcelona's player hasn't the same respect in his native country that El Pibe d'Oro enjoys , being assaulted by an individual at the exit of a restaurant in Rosario. The man, who had a hood pulled on his head, tried to hit Messi, but didn't succeed, and then run.
Messi was not scared after the incident, writing to his fans a calm Facebook message: "Nothing happened, I have not even been touched."
The media in Argentina, which widely reported the incident, sustains the idea that the aggressor of Messi was a fan of the team Rosario Central, the rival of those from Newell's Old Boys, the group at which the player aged 23 spent his first junior years, before being recruited by Barcelona, ten years ago.
Leo Messi equaled last night the record of goals scored in only one Spanish football season , informs Marca.
" The Alien" has managed to score 49 times in Primera Division, Spanish Cup, Spanish Super Cup and Champions League (30 - 7-3 - 9), thus equating the former legendary striker of Real Madrid Ferenc Puskas. He had managed to score 49 times in the 1959/1960 season.
The season is far from over, so that the Argentinian will succeed, most likely, to overcome "Pancho" Puskas at this chapter.
Messi scored last night from penalty , even against Real Madrid in the Primera return match, played on the "Santiago Bernabeu". But the game ended tied, 1-1, after Cristiano Ronaldo drew also from a penalty.
The world's best player, Lionel Messi scored for Barcelona in the 53rd minute from a penalty kick, after the elimination of Raul Albiol for a foul on David Villa, and then Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty seven minutes before the final whistle after the irregular intervention in the square of Dani Alves on Marcelo.
The score's transformation in 1-1made that both teams to turn on their engines at maximum in the last minutes of the game, looking for the winning goal, but David Villa's chances at Iker Casillas gate, and the ones of Sami Khedira to Victor Valdes were neutralized by the two goalkeepers of Spain's national team. The draw almost gave Barca the third consecutive national title, given that the Catalans keep the advance of eight points over Real, along with a superior goal difference (6-1) in direct matches this season. Even though Madrid has beaten up on the spot in the race for the title, Jose Mourinho can comfort with the thought that he stopped the line of victories that his counterpart Pep Guardiola has in his coach record against Real. Since 2008, when the former player trained by the Catalan football academy "La Masia" took charge of Barcelona's technical bank, his students have recorded six consecutive victories with "Los Blancos".
The equalization occurred in the final of the game left with a bitter taste two of the key players of the guests, the midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta, who said that the band would have deserved to win. "Barcelona was much better than Madrid. It is a shame that we haven't got the three points which have secured us the title. The outcome of equality doesn't satisfy any of the teams." , said Xavi to the sports daily AS.
"I'm sorry we have not won since we controlled the game. Each of these matches will be different and I think our team is getting better.", strengthened Andres Iniesta, another World Cup winner in 2010 in Barcelona group.
The game on Saturday night in Madrid was the first of the four who will have as protagonists Real and Barca, in a period of 18 days, each of these matches having a bigger stake than the former. The two teams will meet again Wednesday, this time on neutral ground - Mestalla Stadium in Valencia - for Copa del Rey final, after which the top two teams will play for a place in Champions League final in a round-trip system on April 27th, respectively May 3rd.
Real Madrid and Barcelona have now the world's best players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi.
The two teams battle for supremacy in the Premier League and Champions League, and their number of goals in 27 Primera equals 27 . Messi and Ronaldo on the other side seem to be at different values, the Argentinian superstar being superior, fact recognizing even by CR7.
"Presently, Messi is the best.", said Ronaldo for the French magazine Onze.
Not once a young player was considered an upgraded version of the great legends of world football.
Here are 15 pairs of such comparisons and we invite you to suggest more players which have a similar style with footballers from the the king of sports history:
1. Mauro Formica (Blackburn) - Gabriel Omar Batisuta 2. Theo Walcott (Arsenal) - Thierry Henry 3. Ryan Babel (Hoffenheim) - Thierry Henry 4. Jonjo Shelvey (Liverpool) - Steven Gerrard 5. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - Diego Armando Maradona 6. Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht) - Didier Drogba 7. Samir Nasri (Arsenal) - Zinedine Zidane 8. Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal) - Ryan Giggs 9. Jack Wishere (Arsenal) - Paul Scholes 10. Christian Eriksen (Ajax) - Dennis Bergkamp 11. Javier Pastore (Palermo) - Juan Roman Riquelme 12. Luis Suarez (Liverpool) - Carlos Tevez 13. Neymar (Santos) - Pele 14. Danny Welbeck (Sunderland) - Dwight Yorke 15. Javier Hernandez (Manchester United) - Michael Owen
Messi presented the Golden Ball to Barcelona's fans, pointing out that he will share it with his colleagues, Xavi and Iniesta, both finalists in the race for the trophy awarded by FIFA and France Football.
The event took place before the match against Betis Sevilla, played Wednesday night in the Spanish Cup quarterfinals.
Messi, Xavi and Iniesta were applauded in unison, and in the stadium's speakers it could be heard an emotional message sent by their mothers.
Spain's champion is unstoppable in domestic competitions, smashing Betis Sevilla on Wednesday evening in the first round of the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. It was 5-0 for the team coached by Pep Guardiola, a match that showed why Messi won The Golden Ball.
The Argentinian scored his team's first three goals, after showing to his fans his new trophy received Monday at the FIFA Gala.
Messi has got 31 goals in this season's competitions (27 matches), the best scorer in Spain, with one more goal than Ronaldo
Despite the score , 3 goals made by Messi and 2 by Pedro and Keita, it wasn't easy for the Catalans, that opened the score in the 44 th minute,after a half in which Betis showed in many moments that is the best team that visited Camp this season.
If you want to buy Ronaldinho you have to pay 182 million euros to the Brazilians. Ronaldinho is the player with the highest termination clause in Brazil. Neymar has a clause four times smaller than Ronaldinho.
300 million euros is the clause that Barcelona set for Messi two years ago!
Cristiano Ronaldo is the player with the highest clause: after Manchester City's owners were ready to offer for Cr7 168 million euros a year ago, now, his price has risen madly reaching to one billion euros!
Golden Balltrophyisconsidered the mostimportantindividual prizethat a professional football player can get. The cup is given to the player who demonstrated the highest sport form and behavior in the last 12 months. Beginnig with this edition, the trophy has more weight, combining FIFA's award " WorldPlayer ofthe Year" tradition, given since 1991 with the prestige and antiquity of "Ballon D'Or", awardedbyFranceFootballmagazinesince1956. ThethreenominatedplayersareLionelMessi,AndrésIniestaandXaviHernandez,all of which arecomponentsofFCBarcelona.The club's triplet of stars won the titlein the PrimeraDivisionlast seasonandwon theSpanishSupercup.IniestaandXavi have alsothe titleofworldchampions, with Spain'steamatthe WorldCupinSouthAfricain 2010.
Jorge Mendes is convinced that Cristiano Ronaldo will be the best player in football history.
Mendes looks back on his career, in which in the last 15 years he passed 650 million euros in buying and selling players, including the transfer of Di Maria, Ronaldo, Pepe and Carvalho to Real Madrid, Nani and Anderson to Manchester United.
Fifa agent, known by some "Super Mendes", observed that Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world due to his high speed, technique and strength in the air.
Asked if the best player in the world is Leo Messi, Mendes said: "Certainly not. Cristiano will be considered the greatest of all time. Messi is without a doubt a great player."
