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Tag: FC Barcelona

  • Lewandowski extends scoring streak as Barcelona routs Sevilla ahead of ‘clasico’ against Real Madrid

    Lewandowski extends scoring streak as Barcelona routs Sevilla ahead of ‘clasico’ against Real Madrid

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    MADRID (AP) — Robert Lewandowski scored two more goals to extend his league-leading tally to 12 and Barcelona routed Sevilla 5-1 to open a three-point gap on Real Madrid ahead of next weekend’s “clasico.”

    Pedri and Pablo Torre also scored Sunday for the Catalan club, which restored its lead of La Liga a day after second-place Madrid won 2-1 at Celta Vigo.

    Barcelona midfielder Gavi came off the bench to replace Pedri in the 83rd minute, making his return to action nearly a year after a serious knee injury.

    “I had been dreaming about this moment for several months,” Gavi said. “It’s tough to watch from the outside. I have to enjoy every moment. I feel very lucky to be here today.”

    Barcelona will play Madrid on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Both teams have Champions League matches midweek — Madrid hosts Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday and Barcelona hosts Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

    “This was an important win considering the matches that we have ahead,” Pedri said. “We had to leave with a good feeling and the three points.”

    Lewandowski scored twice in the first half against the visitors, first by converting a 24th-minute penalty kick and then by finding the net from close range in the 39th.

    The Poland striker was coming off a hat trick at Alaves in the previous league round, and had scored twice in the team’s win over Young Boys in the Champions League. He has 14 goals in 11 matches in all competitions this season.

    Lewandowski, who received a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 65th, nearly got his hat track against Sevilla in a one-on-one situation in the first half.

    Pedri scored with a curling shot from outside the area in the 28th and Torre added to the lead from inside the area in the 82nd and with a free kick in the 88th. Raphinha had a 49th-minute goal disallowed for offside.

    Barcelona has outscored its league opponents 33-10 this season.

    Sevilla, which had no attempts on target in the first half, scored its lone goal in the 87th with 19-year-old substitute Stanis Idumbo.

    Barcelona also saw Lamine Yamal return from a muscle strain that saw him leave Spain’s squad during the international break.

    Barcelona defender Eric García hurt a muscle in the team’s warmup and did not play.

    Atletico’s stadium partially closed

    Fewer fans than normal watched Atletico Madrid beat Leganes 3-1 in a match played in a partially closed stadium because of recent fan trouble.

    Alexander Sorloth scored twice and Antoine Griezmann once after the visitors took the lead in the first half at the Metropolitano stadium, which had an empty fan section behind one of the goals as punishment after Atletico fans threw objects on the field during a city derby against Real Madrid last month.

    The section is where the club’s more radical supporters usually gather.

    Atletico had been originally ordered to close the section for three matches but appealed the decision and the punishment was reduced to a single match. The derby was interrupted for more than 15 minutes after fans threw the objects near Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in a game that ended 1-1.

    Sunday’s victory, which ended Atletico’s three match winless streak in all competitions, moved Diego Simeone’s team to third place in the league. It trails Barcelona by seven points.

    Atletico midfielder Pablo Barrios and defender Clément Lenglet both got injured.

    Griezmann was sent off late in the game after he slid into an opponent, but the red card was changed to a yellow after video review.

    Other results

    Villarreal is in fourth place after conceding an 87th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw against Getafe. Santiago Comesaña had put the hosts ahead in the 44th.

    Mallorca defeated visiting Rayo Vallecano 1-0 with a goal by Vedat Muriqi in the 75th. It was the fourth win in five matches for Mallorca, which moved to sixth place in the standings. Rayo stayed ninth.

    ___

    AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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  • Lionel Messi Fast Facts | CNN

    Lionel Messi Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of soccer player Lionel “Leo” Messi, who plays for Argentina’s national team and Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami.

    Birth date: June 24, 1987

    Birth place: Rosario, Argentina

    Birth name: Lionel Andrés Messi

    Father: Jorge Messi, factory worker

    Mother: Celia Cuccittini de Messi

    Marriage: Antonela Roccuzzo (June 30, 2017-present)

    Children: Ciro, Mateo and Thiago

    As a young boy, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. At age 13, he signed with Futbol Club Barcelona and moved to Spain. As part of the contract, FC Barcelona agreed to pay for Messi’s hormone treatments.

    All-time leading scorer of FC Barcelona and Spanish soccer league La Liga.

    Winner of the Ballon d’Or, or footballer of the year, a record eight times: a record four consecutive years (2009-2012) and again for 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

    Won the European Golden Shoe award six times: 2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

    1995-2000 – Plays for the local club team, Newell’s Old Boys, in Rosario, Argentina.

    2000-2003 – Signs with FC Barcelona and works his way up through Barca’s youth squads.

    November 16, 2003 – Makes his team debut, as a replacement in a friendly match against FC Porto.

    October 16, 2004 – Makes his official debut for FC Barcelona against Espanyol. Barca wins 1-0.

    2007 – Establishes the Leo Messi Foundation, working to improve access to education and health care for children.

    August 2008 – Leads Argentina’s soccer team to a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

    March 11, 2010 – Messi is announced as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

    2011-2012 season – Sets the all-time record for most goals scored in a single season for a major European football league, with 73 goals.

    June 2013 – Prosecutors in Barcelona file tax fraud charges against Messi and his father for the period between 2007 and 2009. The complaint alleges that Messi and his father, aiming to lower their Spanish tax bill, sought to manage the player’s lucrative income from image rights through shell companies set up overseas. Messi denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

    June 25, 2013 – Prosecutors in Barcelona tell CNN that Messi paid €10 million ($13 million) in taxes to cover the tax period 2010-2011, but efforts to prosecute him for alleged tax fraud from 2007 to 2009 are still ongoing.

    August 14, 2013 – Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, make a “reparatory” payment of €5 million ($6.6 million) to Spanish authorities for allegedly committing tax fraud between 2007 and 2009.

    September 27, 2013 – Messi and his father testify in a Barcelona court in a preliminary hearing over allegations they defrauded Spanish tax authorities of more than $5 million.

    March 16, 2014 – Scores a hat-trick (three goals during a game), to become FC Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer with 371 goals, eclipsing the record set by Paulino Alcantara, who scored 369 goals.

    May 2014 – Signs a new contract with FC Barcelona for a reported annual net of €20 million ($27 million).

    June 2014 – A Spanish state prosecutor asks the judge to drop the tax fraud charges against Messi, but not his father.

    July 13, 2014 – Messi wins the Golden Ball award for the best player of the World Cup tournament.

    July 28, 2014 – A judge rules that the tax fraud case against Messi and his father will proceed, despite the Spanish state prosecutor’s June request that the charges against Messi be dropped.

    November 22, 2014 – Messi scores a hat-trick to become the Spanish league’s all-time leading goalscorer with 253 goals, surpassing Telmo Zarra’s previous record of 251 goals.

    October 8, 2015 – A Spanish court rules that Messi and his father will stand trial for tax fraud charges.

    May 31, 2016 – The tax fraud trial begins for Messi and his father.

    June 27, 2016 – Says he probably will retire from international soccer after Argentina loses the Copa America final to Chile on penalties.

    July 6, 2016 – A Barcelona court fines Messi €2 million ($2.3 million), and sentences him to 21 months in prison for tax fraud. The Spanish courts reduces Messi’s prison sentence to an additional fine of €252,000 ($287,000) in July 2017.

    August 12, 2016 – Messi announces that he will play for Argentina once again, having stated in June that he would retire from international soccer.

    July 5, 2017 – Barcelona and Messi announce a contract extension that will keep Messi at Barca until June 30, 2021, and is reportedly worth €565,000 ($645,000) a week.

    January 13, 2019 – Scores his 400th Spanish league goal in his 435th appearance, extending his record as La Liga’s all-time top scorer. Messi is the first player to score 400 times in any of Europe’s “big five” leagues.

    August 2, 2019 – Messi is banned from all competition for three months and fined $50,000 by the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Court. The punishment comes after Messi accused South American football’s governing body of corruption, suggesting the 2019 Copa America was rigged in favor of hosts Brazil.

    August 5, 2021 – Messi is leaving FC Barcelona, according to a statement from the club.

    August 10, 2021 – French club Paris Saint-Germain announces signing Messi to a two-year contract with an option of extending for a third year.

    January 2, 2022 – In a statement, Paris Saint-Germain announces Messi is one of four players of the French club to have tested positive for Covid-19. The other three players are Juan Bernat, Sergio Rico and Nathan Bitumazala.

    May 30, 2022 – Speaks about his struggle to recover from Covid-19 after testing positive in January. He missed three matches: two in Ligue 1 and one in the French Cup. “It left me with after effects. It left me with after effects in my lungs. I came back and it was like a month and a half without even being able to run because my lungs were affected.”

    December 18, 2022 – Argentina defeats France to win the World Cup. Messi, playing in his fifth and final World Cup, scores twice. Later, Messi wins his second Golden Ball award.

    June 7, 2023 – Messi says he’s going to join the MLS club Inter Miami. “I made the decision that I am going to Miami. I still haven’t closed it one hundred percent. I’m missing some things but we decided to continue my journey there,” he says in an interview posted by Spanish outlets SPORT and Mundo Deportivo. On July 21, he makes his debut with the club.

    August 19, 2023 – Messi scores to lead Inter Miami past Nashville FC in a penalty kick shootout to capture the Leagues Cup title and score the club’s first trophy.

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  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

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  • El Clásico: The latest edition of the historic rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid could decide the league title | CNN

    El Clásico: The latest edition of the historic rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid could decide the league title | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Every edition of El Clásico is loaded with its own storylines, each strand adding another layer to the historic rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

    Described by La Liga as a “true cultural phenomenon, drawing the attention of millions of fans worldwide,” Sunday’s match at Barça’s Camp Nou stadium will be with fraught with significance, for the result could all but settle the title race.

    A win for Barça would open up a 12-point lead at the top of the table, making the league title a high probability, if not quite a mathematical certainty, while a win for Real Madrid would keep the race alive with 12 matches remaining after Sunday’s game.

    Los Blancos will travel to Camp Nou buoyed by defeating Liverpool 1-0 on Wednesday to seal their place in the Champions League quarterfinals with an aggregate 6-2 victory.

    Vinícius Jr, who was dubbed “the best in the world” by Real coach Carlo Ancelotti on Wednesday, excelled in that victory, creating the only goal of the game for Karim Benzema, and his battle with Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo could be key to deciding El Clásico.

    “He’s struggled a bit more in recent games, but Viní Jr. is always Viní Jr,” Ancelotti said on Saturday, according to the Real’s website.

    “His mobility gives us so much, I’m thinking about putting him on the right because he’s capable, but we’ll see. That freedom and playing without a fixed reference point could be crucial.

    “It’s another problem for the defenders. I’m kidding about him playing on the right … he’ll be on the left but with greater freedom.”

    Benzema, another pillar of Real’s attack, will play on Sunday despite suffering a knock during the week, Ancelotti said.

    While Benzema will take to the field for Los Blancos, Barça will be without Pedri and Ousmane Dembélé due to injury, two of its most impressive players this season.

    La Blaugrana has already defeated Real Madrid twice this year, back in January to win the Spanish Super Cup final and in March to take a 1-0 lead in their Copa del Rey semifinal. The return match is at the Camp Nou on April 5.

    However, Real did triumph in the league game back in October at the Bernabéu, Ancelotti’s team winning El Clásico 3-1.

    Barça coach Xavi downplayed any notion that his team was the favorite to win Sunday’s game.

    “They’re strong. Very strong, recently,” Xavi said, according to Barça’s website. “They’re physically much better than they were in January. I’m sure they’ll put our defense under pressure.”

    “This Madrid team is the European champion and they won the last league comfortably. It’ll be a tight game, and I say we have a 50% chance.”

    Xavi's Barcelona currently sit nine points clear at the top of the table.

    It has been a lopsided season for Real, lagging behind Barça in La Liga and facing that 1-0 deficit in their Copa del Rey semifinal, but remaining on track to defend its Champions League title.

    Before Sunday’s match, Ancelotti addressed speculation about his future at the club, saying he “would stay at this club for the rest of my life but that’s impossible,” adding hat it’s “a decision for the club to make.”

    “If they want me for three months, I’ll make the most of it and the same goes as if they want me for three years … Anyway, I’m certain we’ll win something this season and that will put the doubts at rest. We’re at a disadvantage in the Copa and La Liga but that’s not the case in the Champions League.”

    Barça, meanwhile, once again fell short in Europe, failing to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League and losing to Manchester United in the Europa League, while the club is also embroiled in a referee payment scandal.

    “”We are just focused on competing,” Xavi said on Saturday. “We try to keep natural with the players and not get distracted by all that can happen at a club like this.”

    El Clásico will kick off at 4pm ET on Sunday afternoon at Camp Nou, Barcelona. It is available to watch on the following channels:

    Australia: Optus

    Canada: TSN, RDS

    Brazil: Star+, ESPN

    UK: Premier Sports, La Liga TV, ITV

    US: ESPN

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  • Samuel Eto’o filmed in altercation outside World Cup game

    Samuel Eto’o filmed in altercation outside World Cup game

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    DOHA, Qatar — Cameroon soccer federation president and former star player Samuel Eto’o was filmed apparently kicking a man to the ground in an altercation outside a World Cup stadium early Tuesday.

    Eto’o had paused to pose for photos with fans near Stadium 974 after Brazil beat South Korea 4-1. Footage circulating on social media showed him then reacting to comments by a man holding a camera.

    The former Barcelona and Inter Milan forward was initially held back by people in his entourage then got clear and appeared to aim a kick at the man, who fell backwards to the ground.

    Eto’o has been in Qatar as president of the soccer federation of Cameroon, which was eliminated in the group stage last week.

    He also represents Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee as a Global Legacy Ambassador since 2019 and is part of the FIFA Legends program that uses former players to promote soccer.

    It was unclear in what capacity Eto’o attended the game Monday night.

    Qatari organizers said Eto’o had not been their guest at the game. FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Cameroon federation did not immediately answer phone calls or respond to messages seeking comment.

    Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which oversees the World Cup, and its government did not immediately respond to questions about the incident.

    Eto’o played at four World Cups for Cameroon between 1998 and 2014, and was elected to lead its soccer federation one year ago.

    ———

    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • FC Barcelona Want To Negotiate Bruno Guimaraes Signing From Newcastle

    FC Barcelona Want To Negotiate Bruno Guimaraes Signing From Newcastle

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    FC Barcelona want to negotiate the signing of midfielder Bruno Guimaraes Newcastle United.

    The Brazil international has been a breakout star in the Premier
    PINC
     League since joining the Toon Army in January after their takeover by the Public Investment Fund.

    Still aged just 24, he may one day outgrow the northeasterners and Barca, according to the British press, want to negotiate his transfer.

    The Sun in the UK says that talks have already begun to see the versatile midfielder in Blaugrana one day.

    At SPORT, they describe Guimaraes as “one of the most complete midfielders in the Premier League at the moment and one of the keys that has taken Newcastle to the top of the table”.

    “He is a pivot with great creation play … and a born leader with international experience,” the paper adds.

    Guimaraes could be seen as the perfect replacement for the outgoing Sergio Busquets. Advancing to the first team under Pep Guardiola in 2008, the veteran has been found out at the top level recently and will most probably move on to a less demanding league such as the MS when his contract expires in the summer.

    Frenkie de Jong has filled in at the position in recent weeks while Busquets is gradually phased out by current head coach Xavi Hernandez.

    Yet the Dutchman could still play in front of Guimaraes in a two man midfield while partnered by Gavi or Pedri which has been most commonly seen in recent years.

    As one of the rising stars of world football, Guimaraes has already been approached by Barca’s bitter rivals Real Madrid who were interested in capturing him before the current season when club legend Casemiro was sold to Manchester United.

    Los Blancos went for Aurelien Tchouameni instead, though, who has taken to the ground running in La Liga.

    In order to sign Guimaraes, Barca could take advantage of their strong relationship with his agent Giovani Bertolucci, with whom they worked alongside on the recent exits of Philippe Coutinho and Neto.

    With a contract running until 2026, Newcastle United won’t let their star player go for cheap, however.

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    Tom Sanderson, Contributor

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  • Buyer’s Remorse For FC Barcelona After Summer Of Transfer Gambles

    Buyer’s Remorse For FC Barcelona After Summer Of Transfer Gambles

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    You have to wonder how president FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta feels about his summer activities.

    With the club staring down the barrel of an exit from the Champions League thoughts quickly turn to his decision to sell off a portion of its future domestic TV revenue for half a billion dollars, followed by stakes in its merchandise and content creation operations.

    At the time, the thinking for the president was simple; he needed to raise cash to lift the club out of its rut.

    “We’ve had to move fast,” Laporta said in the summer, “the TV rights were sold, 25 percent of them, and that has added important revenue.

    “The club is on the path to being sound financially. The club is better with the money that’s come in.”

    But Laporta wasn’t simply bringing in more capital to steady the ship, he was raising funds to speculate.

    Laporta put it slightly differently, signing players like 34-year-old Robert Lewandoski would create a “virtuous cycle” where the acquisitions produced the goods on the pitch and drove an increase in revenue that more than compensated, he said.

    According to the two-time president, there was no other way, “I’m not a gambler,” he told The New York Times
    NYT
    . “I take calculated risks.”

    The fear is what lies on the other side of that “risk,” because, as Laporta himself has admitted, the team needs to boost organic revenue.

    “We have to work harder to increase our earnings, not from selling shares but not by profiting through them,” Laporta has confessed previously.

    Domestically, the signings of Lewandowski, Jules Kounde and Raphinha are so far driving a respectable rather than blistering performance.

    But the Champions League has not gone to plan at all. A disappointing performance in a tough group exposed the limitations in coach Xavi’s experience and showed how far former greats Gerrard Pique and Sergio Busquets have fallen.

    More worrying was the Barcelona coach blaming misfortune for Barcelona’s European woes.

    “Although we are in a very uncomfortable situation. In football, sometimes the one who deserved it doesn’t always win,” Xavi said.

    “Hope is the last thing to be lost. The misfortune is that we aren’t dependent on ourselves anymore. The Champions League has been cruel to us this year.”

    Could it be Xavi?

    The lack of substantial improvement in performance puts Laporta in an interesting position.

    Xavi can hardly accuse Barcelona of not backing him, he may have wanted Cesar Azpilicueta at right back and Bernardo Silva in midfield, but he got pretty much everything else he asked for.

    But the underperformance has left Laporta preaching some interesting messages for a man who described winning as a “requirement” at Barcelona.

    “I would tell the fans to keep believing,” he said several weeks back, “we have a very good team that has to give us joy. They have to support Xavi, and we will give that support to him.

    “Xavi has shown that he is a man who knows the club and the system perfectly, apart from being an excellent person. Things will get better, and he will give us many successes.

    “We always talk. After the game, I have a habit of talking to him. [After its 3-3 draw vs Inter which made Champions League elimination almost inevitable] I saw him sad and hurt. Xavi has a virtue that no one I’ve met has — he always sees the positive side. It’s something I’ve always liked.

    “I told him to move forward, not to think about the Champions League and focus on LaLiga.”

    The cost of Barcelona’s underperformance

    On the scale to which Barcelona is operating the financial rewards for Champions League progression are relatively modest. It would have earned around $10 million for each round progressed, which if you go all the way comes to a pretty handy $50 million.

    But more so than the immediate financial gains is the impact of this failure on Laporta’s virtuous cycle, for that to work you need a winning team, which currently Barcelona doesn’t.

    Even winning it was unrealistic this year, a run to the semi-finals would have been a validation of the investment and demonstrated progress.

    Now because of that spending, Xavi doesn’t have the luxury of time, the side needs to do better.

    Unsurprisingly, given the number of transfers he’s already overseen, Laporta mentioned bringing in new faces when discussing how Barca might improve.

    “The project continues,” he said in a direct address to Barca fans, “this team is just starting. There are a series of adjustments to be made that will make it even better.

    “We are always discussing ways to improve with the technical and coaching staff, and there’s the winter transfer market on the way soon. We have a strong team but there’s room for improvements.”

    Not everyone has the optimism Xavi and Laporta possess.

    “If things do not work out,” Victor Font told The New York Times, “we will be hitting a wall.”

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    Zak Garner-Purkis, Contributor

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  • Champions League Disaster Is Why FC Barcelona, Juventus Chase European Super League

    Champions League Disaster Is Why FC Barcelona, Juventus Chase European Super League

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    Wednesday night was exactly the sort of evening Andrea Agnelli wants to avoid.

    The Juventus chairman saw his team suffer a surprise 2-0 defeat to Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in the group stage of the Champions League. It leaves Juventus on the brink of exiting European soccer’s most prestigious club competition before the knockout stage.

    For Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, the situation looks just as bleak. The Catalan giant drew 3-3 with Inter Milan and is almost certain to drop into the second-tier Europa League.

    Upsets like this are what makes the Champions League – certainly in the group stage – interesting. They are also a large part of the reason FC Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid continue to push for a European Super League (ESL).

    A report in The Telegraph last week claimed the owners of the three clubs will renew efforts to launch the breakaway competition. They are already pursuing its creation through the courts. In December, the European Court of Justice will issue a non-binding opinion on the legality of the ESL.

    Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told the club’s AGM this month that soccer “is sick” while pushing the case for a ESL. Laporta said the ESL is a “necessity” to compete with “state-owned clubs”.

    It is no coincidence that the renewed campaign for the ESL comes as FC Barcelona and Juventus face financial issues. Juventus announced a record $246 million loss in September while Barcelona has resorted to selling stakes in club assets to finance new player signings.

    The two clubs would have been counting on going deep in the Champions League to bring in much-needed revenue. Instead, it seems likely both will have to settle for the reduced riches on offer in the Europa League.

    A ESL would remove the jeopardy that occasionally sees bigger teams lose to smaller rivals. There would be no Maccabi Haifa. There would be no Club Brugge, the Belgian club that beat Atletico Madrid (another ESL founder member) on the way to the top of its Champions League group.

    Rather, the ESL would be the biggest clubs (or, more accurately, the biggest at this point in soccer history) playing each other on repeat.

    Proponents, like Agnelli, Laporta and Perez, say this is what fans – especially younger ones – want. The biggest teams playing against one another more regularly. The best soccer stars going head-to-head on a weekly basis.

    The idea is this would be equally appealing to broadcasters and investors. The investment bank JP Morgan committed €3.25 billion ($3.16bn) to the ESL when it was first proposed in April, 2021.

    Yet while it would supposedly provide some financial certainty, a ESL wouldn’t necessarily improve on-field performances for FC Barcelona and Juventus. They would still lose matches.

    The difference is those defeats would be against rivals of a similar dimension. There is no disgrace in losing to Bayern Munich or Manchester City, especially when you know you’ll soon have a chance to seek revenge.

    A defeat you’re half-expecting is better than one you never saw coming.

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    Robert Kidd, Senior Contributor

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  • FC Barcelona Are A Europa League Team Without Lionel Messi, Whose Return From PSG Is Now ‘Improbable’

    FC Barcelona Are A Europa League Team Without Lionel Messi, Whose Return From PSG Is Now ‘Improbable’

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    FC Barcelona have once again shown that without their greatest player of all time Lionel Messi, they are a Europa League team at best.

    Though it is still mathematically possible for the Blaugrana to advance to the Champions League knockout phase, the club and their fans have pretty much accepted that last night’s 3-3 draw with Inter Milan has sentenced them to the Europa League for the second year running.

    In a phenomenon that never happened once on Messi’s watch since progressing to the first team as a teenager in 2004, Barca will fail to make it out of the group in back-to-back seasons and it is no coincidence that this has only happened since Messi joined Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.

    “Barcelona without Messi is a Europa League level team. We’re here because in two consecutive seasons, we couldn’t beat Benfica, Inter or Bayern Munich on our own merit,” accepted Mundo Deportivo writer Xavier Bosch on Thursday morning.

    To add further insult to injury, SPORT now report that Messi’s potential return to Camp Nou in July 2023, when his €30mn ($29mn) two-term deal expires at the Parc des Princes, is ‘improbable’.

    The Catalan daily newspaper writes that Messi has been “bothered” by his name constantly being discussed by Barca’s higher-ups, including president Joan Laporta, in the media regarding the potential coup.

    “Today it is more likely that he will not return than a possible return [happening]. The circumstances do not exist,” SPORT says.

    “There has been no rapprochement or contact between the parties. None. It is clear that Joan Laporta would like it, but there is very, very little chance that Messi will return to Barcelona as a player.”

    Coupled with the disappointment of not advancing to the Champions League last 16, Laporta’s image would be further damaged by Messi also not donning the club’s colors once more in 2023/2024.

    Laporta promised that Messi would be renewed in 2021 when he was elected that year, which proved to be a fallacy. And should the Argentine renew his terms with PSG, he will also not get the chance to say goodbye to Culers that both parties deserve.

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    Tom Sanderson, Contributor

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