A blossoming relationship with the skilful young Pedri seems to have renewed the Barcelona forward’s thirst for the gameThe first goal Lionel Messi ever scored for Barcelona was taken off him, so he did it again two minutes later, and kept on doing it for over a decade. It was May 2005 and the 89th minute of the 34th week when Ronaldinho scooped a lovely pass and the 17-year-old wearing No 30 lifted it softly into the net. Related: Lionel Messi says ill feeling from failed Barcelona exit carried into this season Lionel Messi makes HISTORY! Goal No. 644 sees him overtake Pele "Nobody in the history of this wonderful game has ever scored as many goals for the same...
Since Eduardo Coudet took over, no one in La Liga has won more, scored more or conceded fewer. It is a new dawnEduardo Coudet was pissed off, getting angrier and more drunk by the minute. The fact that Rosario Central had been beaten 4-0 in the first leg of the Copa Conmebol final was bad enough, but it was past two in the morning and he was still stuck inside an empty stadium, unable to escape the humiliation, left with nothing to do but dwell on it. That and drink. His name came up with Pablo Sánchez, sent to the anti-doping room together. But however hard they tried, however much beer they downed – and it was a lot –...
This is the worst position Barça have been after 10 games since 1971 and no team has won La Liga from so far behindRonald Koeman spent much of Saturday night just sitting, staring at his feet, which was probably better than looking at his team. Out on the grass before him they were busy bringing any lingering hope of winning the league to an end six months early and in a way so absurd, so stupidly familiar, as to be almost funny – if you’re not their coach. One down through an eighth-minute own goal from Óscar Mingueza, another one from Pedro Alcalá had just brought them level and offered a way back, when it happened again: the moment that...
The manager appears to be feeling the strain and it will be hard for him to continue if his team go out of the Champions League “Yeah, yeah, for sure,” Zinedine Zidane said and then a familiar, knowing smile returned to his face after a few weeks in which it hadn’t been seen. Real Madrid’s coach had just been asked if this was the most difficult moment in his career. “For sure,” he continued, “but it’s like always: there have been bad moments, criticism, and today’s the same. Maybe more than before, but no problem: I’m not thinking about that. I feel like the players are going to do it on the pitch. Tomorrow is an opportunity to show that...
A tribute in a Barcelona or Argentina shirt might not have felt right. No one expected a Newell’s one but it worked betterLionel Messi could feel the weight of Diego Maradona’s No 10 on his back. It was the final moment before kick-off in the 917th game of his career, the first without Diego, and Europe’s largest stadium stood virtually empty and entirely silent. At each end of the ground, maternity hospital on one side and cemetery on the other, a picture of Maradona was projected on the screens, in the directors’ box a man held a framed shirt, and on the pitch Barcelona’s and Osasuna’s players gathered around the centre circle where a floral offering was made, four days...