La Liga
‘CIVIL WAR’ IN BARCELONA!
Lionel Messi hits out at Barcelona sporting director and former team-mate Eric Abidal over his claim that players got Ernesto Valverde the sack. The Argentine star insists ‘those responsible off the pitch must also assume their responsibilities’
According to Daily Mail, the most important player in Barcelona’s history, Messi, rarely gets embroiled in controversy but he took to Instagram on Tuesday to respond to claims made by Abidal in an interview that ‘many players were not satisfied’ with Valverde.
Messi posted: ‘I honestly don’t like doing these things but I think everyone has to be responsible for their tasks and take care of their decisions.
‘The players [have to be responsible for] what happens on the pitch and
we are the first to recognize it when we did not do things well.
‘Those responsible off the pitch must also assume their responsibilities and above all take responsibility for their decisions (…) I think when he [Abidal] talks about players, he has to give names because if not he is tarnishing everyone and fueling speculation that is not true.’
Messi’s shock response to Abidal’s comments come just a day after revelations in Diario AS that two Barcelona players had a training ground disagreement last week as tension at the club rose over Valverde’s sacking.
After Quique Setien lost his first away game against Valencia 10 days ago it made for an uneasy atmosphere at the club’s Joan Gamper training ground and AS reported that last Tuesday two players squared-up to each other after one had been guilty of showboating the other.
Pressure eased on coach Setien on Sunday when Barcelona beat Levante 2-1 to move back to within two points of Real Madrid at the top of the table. But the coach was asked after the game why in the last couple of matches players have stopped joining in a pre-match huddle.
Abidal said of Valverde’s sacking in his Sport interview: ‘A lot of players were no satisfied and did not work hard [with previous coach]. And there was also an internal communication issue. The coach-dressing room relationship has always been good, but there are things that I can sense as a former player. I told the club what I thought and a decision had to be made.’
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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