Looking back at his career, Lionel Messi must sometimes marvel at the stupendous fairy tale of his own life. Born to two factory workers in a town known (before Messi) for industry alone, he has risen into a stratosphere unimaginable to most – certainly to a quiet, diminutive boy from Roasario, Argentina.
We take a look here at his life in pictures, from his humble origins to his current status as perhaps the greatest player of all time.
The sensational Kevin De Bruyne and 19-year-old forward Kelechi Iheanacho put Manchester City up 2-0 by the 36th minute of Saturday’s Manchester derby. Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled one back for United in the 42nd minute, but City went on claim all three points with a 2-1 victory in the Manchester derby.
Pep Guardiola’s Premier League record with Manchester City now reads played four, won four. It’s been a dream start for Guardiola and City, doubly so now that the Spanish manager has emerged victorious from his first visit to Old Trafford.
It’s a rumor that’s been circulating since last September, when Ronaldinho left Brazilian side Fluminense and became a free agent: would he take the millions on offer in China? Would he become another poster child, albeit a 36-year-old one, for MLS? Wherever he ended up, it was a guarantee that he’d ignite a fan base, sell thousands of tickets and jerseys, and delight with his non-diminishing levels of skill.
Lionel Messi got a Mastiff puppy eight months ago. It was small(ish) then. It is big now. Like, bigger than Messi, almost.
Here's a picture with Messi and his cute Mastiff puppy.
It’s all done and dusted with Neymar penning an improved deal to keep him at Barcelona until 2021, but just imagine what could’ve been. According to Neymar’s agent, Wagner Ribeiro, the 24-year-old Brazilian captain came exceptionally close to joining either Manchester United or PSG over the summer.
2016, you scoundrel! First, we had the trauma and ecstasy of Lionel Messi’s short-lived retirement. Now, we have this: Landon Donovan is set to end his retirement to return to the LA Galaxy for the remainder of the MLS season.
We love a good manager tiff, and no two managers in soccer have been more consistently tiff-some in the last few years than Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. Their long and storied history of passive-aggressive sniping is a shining example for those of us who count being petty as a hobby.
There was that time Mourinho called Wenger a "specialist in failure" and refused to apologize, that time Wenger said Mourinho was afraid of failure and that time Mourinho called Wenger a "voyeur."
And now there is a new entry into the pair's long lesson in managerial grudge-holding.
Giovani dos Santos’ year-long exclusion from the Mexican national team is all the more baffling when you consider his form of late. Perhaps Juan Carlos Osorio simply preferred giving youth a chance for El Tri’s meaningless qualifiers against Honduras and El Salvador. Or, he might still be salty over dos Santos’ decision to reject a call-up for the Copa America Centenario.