La Liga
LIONEL MESSI AND BARCELONA MUST AGREE AMICABLE SPLIT IF DIVORCE IS COMING SAYS KAKA
Kaka believes Lionel Messi could leave Barcelona and warned it is important there is no messy divorce if the Argentina star moves on from Camp Nou, reports Omnisport.
Six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi was incensed by recent comments from sporting director Eric Abidal, who questioned whether some players showed full commitment under former head coach Ernesto Valverde.
A scathing response from Messi bypassed official club channels as he took Abidal to task on Instagram, and that raised the question of whether the record-breaking forward remains happy at Barcelona.
He has spent his entire professional career with the Catalan giants and is by a long distance their all-time leading goalscorer and closing in on Xavi’s appearances records.
Yet Kaka, who starred for Milan, Real Madrid and Brazil and also won the 2007 Ballon d’Or, says the day could come when Messi seeks to move on.
It would then behove both parties to ensure the split is conducted in a dignified way, Kaka explained.
Messi has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave on a free transfer at the end of each season.
“I think it’s not going to be a problem for him to play in the Premier League, or [to play] at a top club at the top three leagues in the world would be good for him,” Kaka told Sky Sports News.
“But of course it depends on what he wants for his career. It’s hard to see him playing for another club, but it’s just … [he may feel,] ‘It’s okay, it’s time for me to change and I’ll go to have another experience and I’ll be the best football player in the world for another team.’
“I think the most important thing is not the broken part but the way this is going to be broken.
“When [Cristiano] Ronaldo left Madrid we were sad that Ronaldo left the club and of course a lot of them regret Ronaldo’s left Real Madrid.
“But I think everybody at the time understood that, okay, for him it’s another challenge, he needs another challenge, he needs to move, it’s okay, we are one of the best clubs in the world and we’ll keep going, Real Madrid needs to rebuild.
“It’s more the way, if it’s going to happen, it’s the way that it’s going to happen.”
Kaka is hoping to move into a football director’s role and explained he was fascinated by the Messi saga.
“I’m in this position right now to understand the clubs, the sports director, how to manage a club, how to build a team, and it’s a very good situation for me to understand how they’re going to handle this, because right now everything’s so hot,” Kaka said.
“We’re going to hear a lot about that, but I’m looking forward to seeing the next step – Messi, [whether] he’s going to leave, Abidal, or the club, Barcelona, how they’re going to manage this situation will be really nice.
“From outside it’s really hard to say something. I don’t know if Messi wants to leave or he just wants to protect his players – [and is thinking,] ‘As a captain I need to protect my team.’”
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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