Football

Lionel Messi out to write glorious third act against Croatia

Published

4 months ago

December 13, 2022

So, it all comes down to this, Lionel. A semi-final against Croatia, a nation of four million people who simply refuse to be beaten in the same way they refuse to allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to swim. That’s a coastline joke. The best kind.

That thrilling M. Night Shyamalan twist against the Netherlands was probably wholly unnecessary from an Argentinian standpoint, allowing the Dutch to trebuchet their way back into an encounter they had to that point played very little part in, but that is the beauty of football.

Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martinez took the spotlight in the end, saving two penalties, and it was Lautaro Martinez who stepped up to take the decisive fifth for Argentina. The other players, after appropriately sticking their tongues out and pulling silly faces at their counterparts in orange, rushed over for a congratulatory pile-on atop the Inter forward.

Messi, who had gone first (coughing in the general direction of Brazil, here) strolled the opposite way, over to his goalkeeper, who was lying face down on the grass in relief, or perhaps emotional exhaustion.

They had a quiet moment together; that bit in the action movie where the protagonists take a second to acknowledge just how close the earth was to complete and total destruction, of how ridiculous it was that they did manage to escape that horde of zombies, or aliens, or vampires, in that fashion, through the eye of the needle and by the skin of their teeth.

Messi might even have taken the opportunity simply to say thank you, in typically melodramatic fashion. “You know, Emi, I couldn’t do this without you.” Cue a warm embrace and a tear or two from the more emotionally predisposed in the cinema.

This World Cup is a blockbuster, Messi its top-billing lead and the happy-ever-after still there, waiting on the horizon.

The scriptwriters are playing it by the book. That defeat to Saudi Arabia was the perfect knockdown. The games against Mexico and Poland a chance to pick themselves up and dust their shoulders off. To show us all Messi is capable of. The magic he still possesses.

That was our initial conflict and motivation. The start of the long journey to redemption and a heroic kind of catharsis. Australia were only more practice to build up strength, despite a couple of late scares.

And then came the giant, the cave troll, Wout Weghorst from his slumber, the unlikeliest threat to life on earth as we know it. Messi and his sidekick, in this case, an Aston Villa goalkeeper, somehow steered the asteroid away at the last moment. Crisis averted, for now.

Up next comes the bitter struggle redux, Croatia in a knockout game. We know how this goes. You think they’re out, finished, defeated. Finally. And then, with the gun to their head, suddenly they’re not. Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic and that immortal sorcerer Luka Modric all decide they’re not quite done yet. That they have one final trick up their sleeve.

Remember that Croatia’s route to the final in 2018 consisted of two penalty shootout wins and that extra-time win against [REDACTED]. Check.

In Qatar, they have already dismissed both Japan and Brazil through their superiority from 12 yards, the evil genius of Dominik Livakovic guessing where you are going to shoot before you’ve even decided yourself. Check.

There are no more perfect villains for Messi – apparently our hero, Modric might have something to say about that – to conquer next. The team who do this for fun. Without the energy-sapping weight of expectation on their shoulders.

It’s all, as Clive Tyldesley would say, set up rather nicely.

Lazy screenwriting would have us believe that this is how it pans out from here. Croatia take the lead against Argentina. All seems lost. Messi gets changed in a phonebox and leads a daring comeback. Triumph.

What’s that in the gathering storm clouds overhead? France have squeaked past Morocco, too. A rematch of that famous 4-3 in Kazan four years ago awaits, this time with the trophy on the line. Far more than that for Messi. But it’s against the reigning champions. The GOAT-in-waiting.

Let’s face it, there is no nation as cartoonishly evil as the French. Didier Deschamps has the look of a man with an underground lair, of that I am convinced.

Thank god then that football is no ham-fisted screenplay, that there is no intricate destiny at work here beneath the fabric of reality.

Argentina are not, it would seem, a particularly extraordinary team. Their faults are obvious and glaring, laid bare against the Netherlands. They are chaotic, overly emotional and dysfunctional. They will give you needless late free-kicks in dangerous positions because it is written in their DNA. They maybe want this all a bit too much.

They have Nicolas Otamendi. A man with both a bear and a lion tattooed across his chest. Tommy Shelby and Walter White across his back.

Argentina are not as savvy as the Croats, cool-headed like the French or as resolute as the Moroccans. Every obstacle has been ridiculously hard work to this point, even with the greatest player of all time in their midst. But they have, to their credit, just about scraped through.

They are two games away from cementing Messi’s legacy as the best to ever do it. Or is it two games away from winning the World Cup? At this point, it’s hard to separate the two. To know what the team, or the superstar, are really playing for.

We’ll find out soon enough. They say you can’t write sport. To script things like this. Maybe Lionel Messi can. He only needs to find the right Hollywood ending. Who knows, we might not even roll our eyes this time.

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Related Topics:Argentina Lionel Messi Updates

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EPL

Fabio Paratici opens up on Antonio Conte’s Tottenham exit & provides update on manager search

Published

18 hours ago

March 28, 2023

Sean Walsh

Tottenham Hotspur managing director of football Fabio Paratici has discussed the decision to part ways with head coach Antonio Conte.

Spurs reached a mutual agreement for Conte to depart the club on Sunday night following a disappointing run of results.

Conte oversaw exits in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and UEFA Champions League this season despite high hopes of ending the club’s 15-year trophy drought.

In his personal life, Conte lost three close friends – Spurs fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone, former Italy colleague Gianluca Vialli and Serie A legend Sinisa Mihajlovic – while he had to undergo emergency surgery on his gallbladder at the start of February.

Speaking to Tottenham club channels, Paratici leaned on these reasons as to why Conte’s reign ended so sourly.

“About Antonio, we know how difficult this season was for him personally. Gian Piero died, Vialli and Mihajlovic [died], the surgery, the club supported him a lot about this and everyone was close with each other. But we arrived to this mutual agreement, and I think the decision we made was the right decision to everyone,” Paratici said.

Paratici went on to talk about interim manager Cristian Stellini – Conte’s former assistant who took charge of Tottenham in his absence this year – as well as speculation over a permanent successor.

“So Cristian managed the team even when Antonio was sick this season and was good. He has a lot of experience as a second and even first coach in the past. We have Ryan Mason who can help him a lot because he’s been part of this club for a long time, he knows everything about this club and this kind of group of players. So I think we are really, really confident that these two persons can do a very good job,” Paratici continued.

“The players doesn’t have to change a bit, the style of training. So change everything when you have just 10 games to go I think would be really difficult to the players.

“I would like to see, not just this season but even last season, when we came here we speak about ‘rebuild’ a bit. We started to play Conference League, starting not so good. Then at the end of the season we achieved a big result to get Champions League.

“Then this season, we played Champions League, we passed the group, it was a good achievement for us. And then we get out against Milan.

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“I think about growing up, the team and the club. The pathway for the club was good about results in that way. And then of course we are disappointed because we can be better in the FA [Cup] against Sheffield [United]. Every time you lose one game, you regret it.

“Of course we are focused and looking forward about being better arriving at the end of the season and the next season better again.

“The Premier League always is tough, so we have a lot of teams and clubs [who are] really, really prepared…but we fight, we like that. So we will fight to achieve our target, we are prepared to fight until the end of the season. We have to be focused on the last part of the season.

“We don’t speak about other coaches or follow the speculation in the media because this is just speculation. We are focused and now concentrating on helping Cristian and the staff, the players.

“I think today we have to be focused on our squad and our manager because it’s an important moment.”

Paratici is one of 12 former Juventus officials who were due in court this week regarding the club’s financial mismanagement, though a date for the hearing has now been pushed back until May.

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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss Julian Nagelsmann’s future and links to the vacant Tottenham head coach role, Barcelona’s ambition to bring Lionel Messi ‘home’, Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson, Florian Wirtz, Kalvin Phillips and more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

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EPL

Bruno Fernandes disagrees with Cristiano Ronaldo’s assessment of Roberto Martinez

Published

19 hours ago

March 28, 2023

Sean Walsh

Bruno Fernandes has revealed he does not agree with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo regarding the impact of new Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez.

The former Everton and Belgium boss was named as the surprise successor to Fernando Santos following the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

While Martinez has been known to coach attacking and entertaining football, his teams are often characterised by their haphazard and sloppy defending – almost the inverse to how Portugal played under Santos.

Ronaldo, who scored four goals in two games for Portugal this month, was quick to tell reporters of the positive impact Martinez has had on the team.

“It’s a new chapter for everyone, for the players, the staff and the country. We feel good energy. It’s a breath of fresh air,” the Al Nassr forward said.

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But when speaking to Portuguese channel RTP3, Fernandes simmered Ronaldo’s excited judgement.

When asked if he agreed with Ronaldo’s comments, Fernandes replied: “No, it’s just a new coach with new ideas. There is no breath of fresh air at all. It’s just a transition period.

“The atmosphere in the national team has always been good. There’s never been anything that wasn’t fresh of the air, so I think it’s just new dynamics, new coach, and you have to assimilate his ideas.”

Portugal have made a perfect start under Martinez’s management, securing a 4-0 win at home to Liechtenstein before beating Luxembourg 6-0 on the road.

Fernandes and Ronaldo’s recent careers have been intertwined due to their prominence with the Portugal national team and their 15-month spell together at Manchester United.

Upon Fernandes’ arrival in England, the Old Trafford faithful devised a chant which referenced his arrival ‘from Sporting like Cristiano’.

The duo didn’t quite hit their best heights in tandem while at United, and Ronaldo’s bitter exit in November 2022 was followed by the two appearing to be on frosty terms ahead of the World Cup.

But Ronaldo dismissed this suggestion at the time, telling the press: “My relationship with him is excellent.”

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If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

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Football

Barcelona appeal to RFEF to claim 1937 league title

Published

23 hours ago

March 28, 2023

Tom Gott

Barcelona are expected to appeal to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in an attempt to be awarded the 1937 league title.

The RFEF was suspended between 1936 and 1939 due to the Spanish Civil War but, in the meantime, and handful of cup competitions were organised alongside the Mediterranean League which, unofficially, took the place of La Liga.

Barcelona won the Mediterranean League in 1937 but, given it was not an official RFEF tournament, it is not a triumph which has been counted in their tally of 26 league titles.

However, they could be about to change that as ESPN note Barcelona are prepared to appeal to the RFEF in an attempt to be formally recognised as national champions that season and therefore take their tally up to 27.

Barcelona, who failed with an appeal to be credited with this title in 2009, believe the RFEF have set a recent precedent which means they should be entitled to claiming the title.

Levante have recently been granted the honour of winning the 1937 Free Spain Cup, which took the place of what is now known as the Copa del Rey, even though that was not an official RFEF competition. Similarly, Deportivo de la Coruna have been named the winners of the 1912 Concurso de Espana – another unofficial cup competition.

With Levante and Deportivo now permitted by the RFEF to claim triumphs in these unofficial competitions, Barcelona are understood to believe that they must be recognised as league champions for 1937.

Barcelona have officially won 26 league titles to date, putting them second in the rankings behind Real Madrid, who have 35 trophies to their name.

Xavi’s side are favourites to win this season’s title, having opened up a 12-point lead at the top of the table, but Barcelona are looking to add a bonus honour to their record books.

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