The AP reported that Lionel Messi is set to undergo medical tests related to a kidney problem he suffered in December that seems to have recurred. Naturally, we as a soccer website are handling this news with the trademark reserve and calm of the worldwide soccer community. We are not panicking at all.
We don't know if anyone noticed this, but Lionel Messi is pretty good at soccer. He scored a hat trick in Barcelona's 7-0 demolition of Gary Neville's Valencia side Wednesday.
¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
La pulga con un 3-0 de playstation pero nivel leyenda. Barça golea en 30'. #CopadelRey https://t.co/mQV3UtS8ad
Barcelona just handed Valencia its worst defeat in 23 years. That’s not something to take lightly. In fact, it’s the kind of thing heard before a lot of people get fired. But somehow, amidst all of the goals (four for Luis Suarez, three for Lionel Messi, for a grand total of Barcelona 7, Valencia 0), all of the cries for mercy, and a complete lack of defending, the singularly most embarrassing moment of the night might belong to Barcelona, courtesy of Neymar’s penalty miss against Valencia.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated the game for so long we can barely remember who dominated the game before them. A statistic that really puts this feeling into perspective is this: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo now have 1,000 goals combined in their careers.
Goal number 1,000 came via La Pulga Saturday againt Atletico Madrid.
All eyes are on Spain this Saturday as Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid and the staunchest defense in Europe face Barcelona in a battle of one versus two in the Spanish table.
In England, the FA Cup resumes while league play dominates the rest of Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
Before we get to the best five matches of the weekend, I must shamefully admit that I missed all but one game last weekend (thank God for Juventus!!!). Hopefully, I have more clairvoyance this week.
1. Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid, Saturday 10 a.m. EST beIN Sports
Lionel Messi is unique among athletes in that there are lots of people who think it's totally worth getting arrested just to be a little nearer to him. American sports don't see near the amount of fans running on to fields that soccer does, especially in regards to Messi. One young fan appeared to have made the most of his pitch-invaderdom following Barcelona's game against Malaga, hugging Messi and ending up with a game-worn Messi jersey.
And then the security guards decided to keep the Messi jersey for themselves.
Poor Gary Neville. The former Manchester United captain took over at Valencia in December, making him the 20th British manager to try his luck in Spain. He has yet to get a win after eight games. Remember, this is a side that finished 4th in La Liga last year, and boasts some considerable talent in Paco Alcacer, Alvaro Negredo and Sofiane Feghouli. They now sit in 11th, and haven't won since the 7th of November. The pressure is definitely starting to mount for the newest addition to the British Manager Abroad Club.
The 2004/05 season saw the introduction of Lionel Messi to the world of football. While Messi managed only 7 league appearances for the senior team, totaling 77 minutes of action, he was a guaranteed starter for the reserve side, Barcelona B. The boy from Rosario ensured that the senior team payed exceedingly close attention to his development with performances like this.
Carlos Vela is not having a good season for his club. Going into 2016, the Real Sociedad striker had only two goals to his name and hadn't scored since October.
It may be a good omen for Vela's 2016 that he ended his goal drought in Sociedad's 5-1 loss to Sporting Gijon Friday.
Neymar has been making all sorts of headlines recently, which in and of itself is not unusual. He's one of the most famous soccer players in the world. It would be weird if Neymar wasn't making headlines.
The headlines that Neymar is generating at this particular moment, though, are quite interesting, as it seems half of them are reporting that he had talks with Real Madrid regarding a possible move. The other half are, obviously, reporting that hell will freeze over before the young Brazilian engages in such talks with Los Blancos.