The 33-year-old showed again this week exactly why Man City or PSG might just consider him worth the investmentOf all the many Elvis Presley incarnations – Vegas Elvis, Leather Elvis, Super-Handsome Young Elvis – my favourite is probably Karate Elvis.Elvis loved karate. He often appeared in public dressed in karate gear, and spent years planning his own starring role in a karate-based blockbuster movie. The problem was, he kept on doing karate as he grew older and vaguer, encouraged by dependant body guards whose duties included humouring Elvis in the belief he remained a deadly fighting machine. Related: Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Related: Michail Antonio's West Ham evolution from utility man to star striker...
The first red card in his Barcelona career can be seen as the culmination of his club’s decline, and the kicking and barging he has endured for yearsExactly 90 seconds before the act of violence that will earn Lionel Messi his first red card for Barcelona, he’s standing just inside the halfway line, waiting to receive a pass. He’s seen a gap. The sort of gap Messi has seen thousands of times before. Related: Messi sent off as Athletic Bilbao sink Barcelona to win Spanish Super Cup Related: Boardroom turmoil, troubling finances and Messi's influence: why Barcelona are a mess Continue reading...
After Messi was said to have broken the Brazilian’s record for goals at a single club, Santos updated their statisticsIt seems odd looking back now, but Pelé’s 50th birthday was marked with a star-studded Pelé exhibition match televised live around the world.Before kick-off a giant Pelé cake was wheeled out at San Siro, on top of which Pelé himself appeared, waving and punching the air in priestly white Pelé-robes, while a massed Pelé-choir sang Happy Birthday Dear Pelé. The Pelé Supremacy filled the skies. And that moment the Pelé-shaped universe was a complete and coherent entity. Related: Does Maradona's greatness really have to stand in opposition to something else? | Jonathan Liew The fear is Pelé will be unduly downgraded,...
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...
Lionel Messi’s tribute to his fellow Argentinian was strangely moving, an acknowledgement of a debt owed to the previous generation of playersIt’s a tribute, but there’s more to it than that. It’s a shirt, but there’s more to it than that, too. For a fleeting moment, as Lionel Messi stands at the Camp Nou in 2020 wearing the No 10 jersey that Diego Maradona wore for Newell’s Old Boys in 1993, past and present are aligned. Messi isn’t just paying homage to Maradona; in that moment he is Maradona, two as one. Then, as if re-entering the earthly plane, he slips his Barcelona jersey back on and dutifully collects his yellow card.So yes, here we are: another paean to Maradona,...