Programming Note: “Many soccer fans believe that Barcelona’s professional team is the best there is. Some even think it’s the best collection of players ever assembled in the sport’s 150 year history. Bob Simon profiles the Spanish “football” club and the training system it built that produces such gifted players that nearly 70 percent of…
Yeah, yeah, I know, I posted a video of the first 86 of these earlier in December. But you know what, this is for the historical record and when it comes to Messi, the historical record need be accurate. So here: Also, check out @PolkPanther‘s stellar graphic mapping the spot from where each of Messi’s…
So, I didn’t get home from a friend’s daughter’s third birthday party until the 79th minute of today’s Barcelona/Granada match. But oh, those lingering minutes were something else. For a team that hasn’t beaten Barca in about forever, theirs was a stoic stand. Alas for them, it was not to be when Xavi plunked one…
Sure, Barca lost to Real Madrid on aggregate in the Super Copa due to today’s 2-1 loss. And sure Cristiano Ronaldo had a sweet goal of his own. But sweet Christ, check this Lionel Messi goal out.
On the American side of the Atlantic, Louden Hickey seemingly displayed mind-control over a soccer ball on a pitch in Philadelphia. And on the European side? Well, Lionel Messi decided to score two goals in the final 16 minutes of a La Liga match vs. Osasuna to, you know, mark the first time the club…
You won’t see very many goals from Lionel Messi in this five-minute video. But you will see ample evidence that he is so far beyond magisterial it’s absurd. He makes Michael Jordan seem pedestrian. And, if he could just win a World Cup, he’d be the indisputable GOAT. (Thanks to @ericreinke for steering me toward…
A long time ago, I posted a link to a video of 222 goals scored by the greatest soccer player on Earth, Lionel Messi. It was 13:18 long. That was in February. Well, now it’s March. And, the greatest soccer player on Earth, Lionel Messi, has broken the all-time FC Barcelona scoring record with 234…
Per @barcastuff, “Official: Cesc Fabregas has signed a 5-year deal as new Barcelona player. His buy-out clause is 200M.” Perfect timing, too, after Real Madrid essentially shut Barcelona’s offense down yesterday in the first leg of the Spanish Cup, but for two marvelous goals by David Villa and Lionel Messi. Second leg’s Wednesday.
From Jere Longman’s essential “Boy Genius” piece in the Sunday New York Times: “No one plays with as much joy as Messi does,” Eduardo Galeano, the celebrated Uruguayan novelist and author of “Soccer in Sun and Shadow,” said in an e-mail. “He plays like a child enjoying the pasture, playing for the pleasure of playing,…
