CELEBRITY
A look at departing Barcelona star Lionel Messi’s career
Football has been turned on its head in recent days with Barcelona’s bombshell announcement that their superstar forward Lionel Messi is set to leave the Nou Camp.
The Argentinian, who joined Barca’s youth set-up aged 13, spent his entire professional career at the club and is their all-time top scorer and appearance maker with 672 goals in 778 games in all competitions. His contract expired at the end of June.
Born: June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina
Career to date
• Joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old in 2000 and shone in the youth ranks before coach Frank Rijkaard gave him a senior debut at the age of 16 in a friendly against Porto in 2003.
• Made his La Liga debut in October 2004 and scored his first league goal the following May in a match against Albacete at the Nou Camp.
• Scored six goals in 17 appearances in 2005-06 as Barca won La Liga for the second year in a row but did not feature in their 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final.
• Played a key role as Barca claimed six trophies in the calendar year of 2009 including the Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey and Club World Cup.
• Won the first of four consecutive Ballon d’Or awards.
• Won La Liga again in 2010 and retained the Ballon d’Or award, beating Spanish World Cup winners and Barca team-mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi.
• Inspired Barcelona to a 3-1 win against Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final, scoring one goal and creating another.
• Helped Barca to a third consecutive La Liga title in 2010-11 and was on the scoresheet as they beat Santos 4-0 to win the Club World Cup.
• While Barca failed to retain La Liga or the Champions League, Messi overtook Cesar Rodriguez as Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer and finished 2012 with an extraordinary total of 91 goals in all competitions – a record for a calendar year.
• Smashed La Liga’s scoring record for one season in 2011-12 with 50 goals.
• Equalled the Champions League scoring record of 71 goals set by former Real Madrid and Schalke 04 forward Raul when he struck twice against Ajax Amsterdam at the end of 2014. Has since been overtaken by Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Turned in a series of scintillating performances in 2014-15 as Barca won a historic second treble, with Messi winning his fifth Ballon d’Or award after becoming the all-time top scorer in La Liga.
• Won the domestic double in 2015-16 and 2017-18.
• Following the departure of Andres Iniesta in May 2018, Messi was named Barcelona’s captain for the following season and led them to the league title, but the club were eliminated at the Champions League semi-final stage by Liverpool.
• Won a record sixth Ballon d’Or in September 2019.
• Attempted to leave Barcelona in August 2020, making a formal request for an exit after a breakdown in his relationship with then president Josep Maria Bartomeu but successor Joan Laporta, who presided over the Argentinian’s rise to greatness, convinced him to stay.
• Surpassed Pele’s record at Santos with his 644th goal for Barcelona against Real Valladolid in La Liga in December 2020.
• In his final season at the club, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey but finished third in the league and were knocked out by Paris St Germain in the Champions League last 16 stage.
• Scored a club record 672 goals in 778 games and won 35 trophies at the club, including 10 La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies.
Finest moments with Barcelona
• First hat-trick against Real Madrid (2007): March 10, 2007, a 3-3 draw in La Liga at home to Real Madrid.
Two left-footed strikes from the mesmerising Argentinian starlet brought Barcelona back into a game where Ruud van Nistelrooy had plundered a 2-0 lead at the Nou Camp for arch-rivals Real Madrid. But Messi’s cheeky 90th-minute equaliser after stealing the ball form Sergio Ramos made the-then 19-year-old and his deadly finishing the talk of the town.
• Seismic 6-2 win at Real Madrid (2009): May 2, 2009, a 6-2 Liga win at Real Madrid.
Messi was at the heart of three of the goals that saw Madrid slip to their most bitter home defeat ever by Barcelona in a painful 6-2 lesson.
• Four-goal haul against Arsenal (2010): April 6, 2010, a 4-1 Champions League quarter-final win over Arsenal at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona were in trouble against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal after a 2-2 draw in London when they fell 1-0 behind at home as the Londoners dared an attacking strategy that fell short as Messi ran rampant. Starting with a long-range shot before conjuring two more from nothing and ending with a lethal low shot, Messi again stole the plaudits and the show. He would score five against Leverkusen in a 7-1 win in 2012, a year in which he racked up 91 goals. But the Arsenal mauling stands above that as his most dazzling display.
• Beating Real in Europe (2011): April 27, 2011, a 2-0 Champions League semi-final away win at Real Madrid
In his first meeting with Real Madid in Europe, Messi scored a stunning late double in the opening away leg as Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona killed the contest in a game that attracted massive worldwide audiences.
• Champions League win at Wembley (2011): May 28, 2011, Champions League final, a 3-1 victory over Manchester United in London.
In a rematch of the 2009 final also won by Barca, Messi propels his team to victory with a fine strike, his 53rd goal in 55 matches at that time in the season. He also won the title of top scorer in the competition that year, with 12 goals.
• Double against Guardiola (2015): May 6, 2015, Champions League semi-final, first leg – a 3-0 win over Bayern Munich at Camp Nou.
Facing his former coach Guardiola, Messi scores twice in three minutes at the end of the game.
The highlight then was a dribble which left opposing defender Jerome Boateng on his backside, before setting up Neymar.
• Mythical celebration (2017): April 23, 2017, in La Liga, a 3-2 victory at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.
Messi was left bleeding from the nose after a nudge from Real’s Marcelo.
Madrid went in front before Messi levelled. At the end of the game, with the score at 2-2, Messi scores past Keylor Navas with the clock showing the second minute of injury time.
He celebrates by removing his shirt, holding it at arms’ length in front of stunned Madrid supporters, his chin raised in a sign of defiance.
-Reuters/AFP
Diego Maradona’s death “would have been avoided” if the medical team around him had done their job, his daughter Dalma accused on Tuesday at the trial of health professionals of the circumstances of the death of the Argentine football idol
Dalma, 38, the elder of Maradona’s two daughters with his ex-wife Claudia Villafañe, was a star witness on the 11th day of the trial in San Isidro (north of Buenos Aires). And like others since the start of the trial, she blamed the caregivers of her father’s final weeks and the framework of his convalescence.
” If they had done their job, (his death) would have been avoided,” Dalma said, referring to the medical team and in particular to three of the accused: attending physician and neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and psychologist Carlos Diaz.
” They deceived us (the family) in the most cruel way (…) They made us believe that the only possible option was to convalesce at home after his operation, in a house that was rented for the occasion in Tigre (north of Buenos Aires),” Dalma said.
According to them, ” it would be a serious home hospitalisation,” Diego would have everything like in a clinic, but in a house,” with 24/7 medical attention, medical equipment, an ambulance at the door permanently, she continued.
” It never happened,” she said in a statement often interrupted by tears. In this “disgusting, piss-smelling ” house, a doctor only came to see him from time to time.”
Maradona died at the age of 60 on November 25, 2020, from a cardiorespiratory crisis complicated by pulmonary oedema, in this private residence, where he had been convalescing for two weeks after neurosurgery for a head hematoma.
Seven practitioners – doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses – are accused of “homicide with possible intent”, characterised when a person commits negligence while knowing that it can lead to death.
Mr. Luque, who was close to Maradona, ” was his primary care physician, and I didn’t think he was recommending something that wouldn’t be best for my father,” Dalma continued.
With his sister Gianinna ” we didn’t have much influence, we could say what we thought but didn’t decide anything .” Sometimes someone from the care team or from the entourage would say “that Dad was sleeping, sometimes that he didn’t want to see anyone,” that the best thing was not to disturb him. “
” In hindsight, we should have decided.”
Last Tuesday, Veronica Ojeda, ex-partner and mother of Maradona’s son born in 2013, testified that the star’s close entourage “kept him as if he were sequestered” in the last months of his life.
The practitioners on trial, who deny any responsibility for the death, are seeking sentences of 8 to 25 years in prison. The trial is expected to last until July, with one or two hearings per week.
–Le360 (with AFP)
Mexican referee Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava found out the hard way that there are consequences for seeking an autograph from eight-time Ballon d’Or winner and World Cup winner Lionel Messi — he was hit with a CONCACAF disciplinary sanction.
As the final whistle blew on Inter Miami’s 1-0 Champions Cup win over Sporting Kansas City, secured by a brilliant second-half goal from Messi, the referee known as ‘El Gato’ approached the Argentina international.
He appeared to be asking for the striker’s shirt to join the Messi-mania, but it turned out he was actually requesting an autograph for a relative with special needs.
Despite the heartfelt request, Ortiz’s actions did not comply with CONCACAF’s code of conduct for officials.
“Upon investigation, CONCACAF has learned that the referee approached the player to request an autograph for a family member with special needs,” the North American football governing body said in a statement to ESPN.
Although the exact nature of the disciplinary action was not disclosed, CONCACAF added that Ortiz accepted full responsibility for his actions and apologised for his breach of protocol.
The first leg of the premier continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean was initially postponed due to a winter storm warning in the area.
Inter Miami will host Sporting in the return leg at Chase Stadium on Tuesday.
“The referee’s actions were not in accordance with the confederation’s code of conduct for match officials and the procedures in place for these types of requests.”
Reuters
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The world’s top athletes don’t just dominate on the field—they lead the way financially, too.
From football icons to basketball superstars, these elite performers are earning staggering sums through salaries, endorsements, and off-field ventures.
Using data from Sportico, sportsunlimitednews breaks down the top 10 highest-paid athletes globally.
10. Jon Rahm
On December 2023, Jon Rahm announced he was joining LIV Golf after a very successful stint at the PGA, earning 11 PGA Tour wins since joining in 2016. Now signed under LIV Golf, the Spaniard is considered one of the best-paid athletes in the world, accumulating $85.6 (€82.3/£68.55) million in winnings and $20 (€19.2/£16) million on endorsement deals
9. Kylian Mbappe
Following his massive transfer to Real Madrid in 2024, Kylian Mbappe is now ranked the 9th highest-paid athlete in the world. The French forward earns $85 (€81.6/£68.9) million in salary and $25 (€24/£20) million in endorsements, totalling $110 (€105/£88) million—a ‘galactico’ price tag for one of the best players in the world.
8. Karim Benzema
Another former Real Madrid star, Karim Benzema is ranked amongst the top ten best-paid athletes in the world following his move to Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia). The French striker earns $108 (€103/£86.4) million alongside $8 (€7.6/£6.4) million in endorsements.
7. Oleksandr Usyk
Up next, we have an undisputed heavyweight champion, who took down Tyson Fury for a second time in 2024. Oleksandr Usyk is arguably one of the best fighters in the world right now, and his earnings reflect that. The Ukrainian makes an average of $120 (€115/£96) million in winnings alongside $2 (€1.9/£1.6) million on endorsements, standing on $122 (€117/£97.7) million.
6. Neymar Jr.
Neymar Jr. is in the final stages of his professional football career. The former Barcelona and PSG man has enjoyed a successful stint across multiple teams around the world. Now in Santos FC, the Brazilian star is still considered one of the highest-paid players in the world, earning a $108 (€103/£82) million salary and $25 (€24/£20) million in endorsements.
5. LeBron James
The Los Angeles Lakers veteran and NBA star is ranked fifth in the world following his jaw-dropping $85 (€81.6/£68.3) million endorsement deals with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Alongside his endorsements, he cashes in a salary of $48.2 (€46.3/£38.6) million a year.
4. Lionel Messi
The Inter Miami star has one of the most lucrative contracts in world football. The Argentinian forward earns $60 (€57.6/£48) million a year, alongside $75 (€72/£60) million on endorsement deals. He is linked to Louis Vuitton, Mastercard and Pepsi.
3. Tyson Fury
The ‘Gypsie King’ is ranked third in the world, despite his recent losses and retirement announcement in late 2024. Fury cashed in $140 (€134.4/£112) million in winnings alongside $7 (€6.7/£5.6) million in endorsement deals, a very fruitful 2024 for the former British heavyweight champ.
2. Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry can still boast of having the highest-paying salary in the NBA for the eighth straight year. According to ESPN, his Golden State deal is worth around $55 (€52/£41.2) million this season. On top of that, the American point guard earns $100 (€95/£79.9) million in endorsements.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo still ranks at the top as the best-paid athlete in the world. The Al-Nassr star earns a jaw-dropping $215 (€206/£171.9) million salary, alongside $45 (€43.1/£35.9) in endorsements from Armani, Herbalife, TAG Heuer, and Clear Shampoo.
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